Beyond Humanity
by the one that will not be named
Summary: The Digidestined return to the Digital World after defeating VenomMyotismon. They must now defeat the Dark Masters but a new threat to their wellbeing has appeared. Can they still save the human world when they change into something not human?
1. The new ordeal

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

Beyond humanity.

Chapter 1

It had been two days since they got back. Back to the Digital World. The one they had to leave in order to save their own.

Now it was just a shadow of what it used to be.

The Dark Masters made sure of that. They tore down every particle of the world and rebuild it in their own image, with Spiral Mountain in the centre of it. In order to destroy the Dark Masters they had to climb it, which seemed rather impossible.

"We'll never get up there. We don't have any supplies or climbing gear." Joe ranted. Tai had blocked him out a few minutes ago when he started.

Tai continued to do so and thought about their task. It seemed impossible to destroy four mega level digimon. Their own two mega levels hardly put a dent in Piedmon. Why did life have to be so hard?

Joe was currently having a nervous break-down.

Tai got up and continued to ignore Joe, who was now ranting about toilet paper. Tai himself hadn't brought anything from home, except a long-sleeved sweater in case they ended up somewhere cold again.

He walked over to the edge of the cliff they were currently resting. Piximon had dropped them near here after their first encounter with Piedmon and the other Dark Masters. He paid with his own life when he sent them here.

But he would come back. One thing they knew about digimon was that they never disappear. They just go away for a while and come back.

The same couldn't be said about them. If they died they wouldn't come back. They'd be gone forever. They may have been digital at the time but Tai sincerely doubted they'd be reborn in the Primary Village.

Weird thought!

Tai suddenly had this weird vision of himself breaking open a digi-egg from the inside.

Very weird but it put a smile on Tai's face anyway. He hadn't really smiled since they got back. He was afraid. Afraid that his friends would die here. That they would never rescue the Digital World. That their world was next.

He was afraid. He, the bearer of courage, afraid. It seemed so unworldly. He never feared anything before and now he was nearly shivering from fear. He didn't off course. That would be devastating for the morale of the group.

To see that their fearless leader was afraid.

"Joe, shut up! You're making me nervous." Matt suddenly snapped, making Tai come back to the 'real' world. Joe immediately fell silent but glared at Matt menacingly, which was rather not menacingly.

"He's right Joe. You should stop complaining. It won't help against those awful Dark Masters." Mimi said as she grabbed her hat just a bit tighter. She had pulled it down a bit to block out Joe's ranting.

"That's not true." TK said. "He might bore them to death."

The whole group except Joe laughed at that.

"But seriously, what are we gonna do about them?" Sora asked once she stopped laughing. Everyone turned to Tai.

Tai was currently contemplating their options. They could do a full-on attack. No that would get them killed. They could try to sneak in and destroy them. No. Piedmon would notice them and then they would be killed. They could…

"Tai."

Or they could… No that meant certain death as well.

"Tai!"

Maybe…

"Taichi!"

Tai snapped back to reality, second time in like three minutes.

"What is it? And who told you my full name?" Tai asked the lizard-like creature yelling at him.

"She did." He pointed at Kari, who just waved innocently.

"Tai, you really need to stop zoning out like that." Izzy said. "We can't be a team without a leader."

"So Tai. What are we going to do about them?" This time it was Matt who asked the dreaded question.

"To be honest… I have no idea." Everyone dropped down anime-style.

"What do you mean, you have no idea?" Matt stood up; leaving his 'I-don't-really-care' attitude behind. "You're supposed to be our leader."

"And does that make me a tactical genius? I never asked to be the leader Matt." Tai gritted his teeth as he spat out those words.

Matt backed down as Tai said that. He hated to admit it but Tai was right. He was just eleven, just like himself. None of them should know how to destroy an evil squadron of dark digimon.

"That may be true Tai but you are our leader. You're the one we all listen to. You're the one that holds us together." Sora said once Matt calmed down again.

Tai sighed. She was right. When he disappeared for a few hours the team fell apart. Off course it hadn't been a few hours to them. More like a few months.

He sighed again. "I don't know what to do now. Maybe we could ask Gennai for some information about the Dark Masters. Maybe he knows their weaknesses."

This clearly was a good idea, as everyone nodded.

"Just one problem though." Izzy said, not even looking up from his screen.

"Now what?" Joe mumbled.

"We don't find Gennai. Gennai finds us." Tentomon said as he hovered past them. "He's right. The only times that I was able to contact Gennai was when he showed himself to me." Izzy continued.

"So what, we're supposed to sit here and wait for the old man to call us?" Matt asked as he sat down on his rock again.

"Pretty much." Izzy said.

"Great, just great." Joe started to complain again.

"Relax Joe, you'll live longer." Gomamon tried.

"You should listen to him Joe." Mimi said as Joe tensed up.

"Live longer? Live longer?" Joe started. 'Not good.' Was all that went through the digidestined and digimon's heads.

"I doubt I'll 'live longer' as long as we're on this god forsaken piece of rock!" Joe's head started to turn red. "And I can't relax with the thought that we have to wait for Gennai while we're easy targets here!"

Everyone looked astounded at Joe's outburst. Who knew that the calm façade contained so much anger.

"So what are we going to do? Wait till fate leads us to him?"

Out of anger Joe kicked against a rock, which flew through the air, struck a tree, bounced into another direction and knocked away a pile of stones.

Which then revealed one of those steel plates on which they first met Gennai.

Joe's jaw fell to the floor. "Can't argue with fate, can you?" Tai said as he walked over to the plate.

"How did this work again?" Tai said to himself as he kicked it a few times.

"Get him away from there!" Izzy yelled out in panic. Soon Tai was dragged away by Matt and Agumon.

"Let's just hope it's not broken." Izzy muttered to himself as he connected it to his laptop.

"Mind if me and TK go explore for a while?" Kari asked. "I'd rather not wait till he's done." She pointed at Izzy, who was currently entering 'the zone'.

"Okay, but be careful." Tai said reluctantly. He was a bit worried, with her being sick and all but TK and Gatomon would be with her.

"Great!" She yelled out as she headed into the forest close to their piece of rock.

"Hey wait up!" Gatomon yelled as she, TK and Patamon went after her.

"You sure that was a good idea?" Sora asked as the quartet left the team. "I doubt that the Dark Masters would attack now." Tai said, though not really sure about it himself. "And besides: Gatomon and Patamon are with them."

This seemed to put some of her worries aside.

Meanwhile Izzy was still ticking away on his computer. Tai didn't know that human fingers could move so fast. He got dizzy from just looking at him.

"So, got anything?" Tai asked after a while. Nothing. Izzy seemed to be very far off. Even his eyes weren't really focused any more.

"Okay that's just plain weird." Tai said to himself as he left Izzy alone again.

"Shouldn't we do something? You know, like wake him up?" Mimi asked. "Bad idea. Izzy hates it when people distract him when he's working." Tentomon said casually.

"He calls this working." Joe said as he threw his hands up.

Like an hour or so later Izzy finally moved again. "Prodigious!" he exclaimed, causing Tai to wake up and nearly falling off of the rock he dubbed a bed.

"What? What?" He asked, rather confused about what just happened.

"I found a way to contact Gennai!" Izzy said as he tapped away on his computer some more. "If I just do this… and then open up that link…there we go!"

A flickering image appeared above the piece of steel. An image of an old man that had lost the ability to open his eyes a few thousand years ago.

"Hello digidestined." He started. "How nice to see you all again."

"The same Gennai, but we didn't call you for small talk. We need information about the Dark Masters." Tai said, rather abruptly.

"Ah yes, the dark masters. Nasty digimon but I fear that there's an even bigger threat to your wellbeing." Gennai said with sadness in his voice.

"Oh great! More evil digimon that want us dead!" Joe complained again.

"Shut up Joe. Tell us about this new threat." Tai said as he blocked Joe out again.

You know how our dimension hung in the sky at your home?" Everyone nodded. "That means that our two dimensions are scrapping against each other. This causes a great increase in digital energy."

"What is this 'digital energy' you speak of?" Izzy's curiosity was getting the better of him as always.

"Everything in this world is powered by the Digital energy. It allows digimon to digivolve and be reborn over and over again." Gennai said as Izzy absorbed every word he said into his mind.

"I believe that most energy was released into the Digital World, so your world should be safe." Everyone looked rather relieved when Gennai said so.

"But that means that there is to much of it present in this world. I have absolutely no idea what effect it could have on humans." Gennai said darkly.

"How is this dangerous to us?" Tai asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

"I don't know, like I told you: something like this has never happened before. It's entirely possible that nothing happens to you."

"But if something does happen, what then?" Tai asked, this time truly afraid of the answer.

"It could change you as well."

This struck fear in everyone's hearts. But mostly in Tai's. He couldn't think of himself as anything other then human.

"Do you mean we might change into digimon?" Mimi asked nervously.

"Not exactly digimon but as I said, it's probably nothing. It's just a theory."

A scream suddenly pierced the silence of the forest. Matt went from 'totally relaxed and just slightly worried' to 'worried sick'.

"That was TK." He said and ran off without an other word. He waked up Gabumon as he passed the sleeping lizard/wolf-like digimon, who then quickly followed Matt.

Tai, Mimi, Sora, Joe and their digimon followed Matt. Only Izzy remained behind.

"I'm afraid that the theory could become a reality." Gennai said with a worried look on his face.

"Isn't there a way to shield us from that Digital energy?" Izzy asked, also worried about what it could do to them and about that scream.

"I'm afraid there isn't but I can give you this. It's a scanner program for your computer. It detects large sources of Digital energy so you can avoid it as much as possible."

"Don't I need a sensor or something for that to work?" Izzy asked as he closed his laptop and put it back into his backpack.

"No you can just use the infrared of your laptop." Gennai responded.

Izzy ran off, followed by Tentomon. "I'll send the program but it might take a while. My modem is older then myself."

The others ran as fast as they could towards the source of the screams but when they got there…

"What the hell?"

* * *

Cliff-hanger!

Hooray! I decided to post a new story to celebrate the fact that 'Spirits of Destiny' hit 300 reviews! (plus the plotbunnies wouldn't leave me alone)

R&R please! I'll continue when I get a few reviews. No flamers though.


	2. The first change

I don't own anything, except this piece of string. 'holds up piece of string'

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 2

_Five minutes before Gennai talked to the Digidestined._

"So Kari, what do you think of the Digital World?" TK asked as the small group walked through the forest. There wasn't much to see actually. Just trees. And more trees. And a rock.

"I don't know." Kari said. "Tai told me about it but it doesn't really seem…so vivid as he described it."

"That's because of the Dark Masters. Normally the Digital World is a very interesting place to live but now…" Gatomon said before turning away a bit.

"But that's why we're here, to restore the Digital World to what it once was." TK grinned.

It would all work out. He, Matt and all the others would save the world, just like in the movies.

TK jumped on top of one of the rocks scattered across the forest. "Let's see if we can find some friendly digimon in this direction."

"TK, sure we should be wandering so far away from the others?" Kari asked, not really worried but not entirely calm either.

"Relax Kari, if anything happens I'll protect you." TK answered happily.

Kari smiled as he reassured her.

"Eh TK?" Patamon said, eyes wide open all of a sudden. "What's that on your back?"

"Huh?" TK tried to spin around to see whatever Patamon saw on his back. "I don't see anything…"

'_Crackk'_

A ripping noise came from the back of his shirt. Out of the shreds came eight wings.

Wings, as in the things that belonged to birds and angels.

TK, like any person subjected to this, did the only plausible thing he could do.

He screamed his lungs out.

Kari, Patamon and Gatomon had no idea what to do right now. It didn't happen often that a human sprouted wings. Surely humans tried to make their own wings but those always melt when they get to close to the sun.

"Get them off, get them off!" TK cried once he was done screaming. Kari did as he told her and pulled on one of the white wings.

"Aahh! Stop it!" TK whined as she tried to pull it off. "But you told me to…" Kari fell silent as the other digidestined minus Izzy arrived. Apparently they weren't that far away as they thought.

"What the hell?"

"Eh…We can explain?" Patamon said, more like a question though. The other digidestined looked rather shocked.

"So Gennai was right." Tai muttered as he saw TK's wings. All eight of them, snow-white. Like an angel.

Matt said nothing. He had absolutely no idea how to handle this. He knew that being a big brother wouldn't be easy but this was ridiculous.

"TK?" He stuttered, finally retrieving his voice.

TK nodded, still trying to refrain from looking at his back.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" TK shook his head. "No it didn't hurt. And I didn't cry either." He said proudly. TK was obviously taking this change better then Matt.

"Mom's gonna kill me when we get back home." Matt muttered.

"Don't worry Matt, I'll fly you to safety if that happens." TK smirked as he jumped off of he rock he stood on.

"Kari?" Tai asked. "Do you know what happened here?"

"I don't know. One moment me and TK were talking and the next he was growing those wings."

Tai thought deeply. 'So poor TK already fell victim to Gennai's theory. Now what?'

"Now what?" He repeated, only harder this time.

Everyone shrugged, except for Joe. He sat down on a rock. "This is giving me a headache. Can't we go back to the time where we only had to worry about evil digimon trying to destroy us?" He sighed. "I miss those times."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Matt walked up to Joe and jabbed him in the chest. "Nothing has happened to you, so don't even think about complaining." He growled at the teen, who looked like he nearly wet his pants.

"Matt, back off." Sora decided to play the voice of reason once more. "You know how Joe's like. He isn't happy till he complains about something."

Matt decided to listen to Sora, for now and stepped away from Joe.

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice called out from the trees. "Over here Izzy!" Tentomon yelled as he flew out from between the trees to where the others were.

"Gennai has send me a program! I can detect digital energy before it can cor…" He fall silent when he saw TK's wings.

"To late." Matt said.

"Oh dear." Izzy said, nearly dropping his laptop. Actually he did drop it but Tentomon was just in time to catch it.

Izzy ran over to TK and immediately began firing off a barrage of questions. "Do you have feeling in them? How did it feel? Can you move them?" and much more.

"Izzy quiet it." Matt said. "Leave the kid alone." Tai added. "It's hard enough for him without you poking him." Izzy stopped doing said action instantly.

"Sorry about that TK. I just got a bit excited." Izzy said, face rather red. "Anyway… Izzy, you mentioned something about a program?" Tai asked, trying to change the subject a bit.

"Ah yes. Wait just a second." He took his laptop back from Tentomon and booted it up. Tentomon then flew off to the other digimon.

"So what do you think about all of this?" He asked once he landed. Most digimon just shrugged. "I like it." Gomamon said. "Maybe when Joe turns into a digimon he'll be able to swim."

"I bet Sora'll be a bird digimon, just like me!" Biyomon said happily.

"You're all completely bonkers." Joe said as he overheard the digimon. "And that's why you love us Joe!" Gomamon yelled back.

Joe decided not to reply to that comment.

Meanwhile Izzy was finishing up with his new program. He loaded it and looked at the screen. It displayed a rather detailed map of their current area. Most of it was coloured green but there were a few specks of orange and red around to.

Tai and all the others looked over Izzy's shoulder, trying to discover whatever the map told them.

"See this?" Izzy asked. "It's a map of our immediate surroundings. The green areas are safe for us and the red area's aren't."

"So we just stay out of the red area's and we'll be safe?" Tai asked eagerly, getting his hopes up a bit. "No…" Izzy replied, immediately pulling Tai down again. "There's still to much digital energy around. We'll all be changed eventually but if we avoid areas or certain objects, like the stone Joe is sitting on we won't turn as fast."

"Well that's good…" Izzy's words sunk in. Joe screamed and jumped of the rock. "Please tell me that you were joking. Please?"

"I wasn't joking Joe. That rock shows up as bright red on the map." Izzy said, more serious tone in his voice then anyone has ever heard.

"Isn't that the rock TK stood on when we came here?" Mimi asked, finally able to speak again. She was frightened by TK's sudden change. They had only been gone for like a half-hour and he was already an angel.

"I think it was…" Kari said, thinking rather hard.

"Rock or no rock, Gennai send me some more information about this." Izzy said, drawing the attention back to him. "He wrote that some people might be more affected then others. It depends on personality, will power and stuff like that."

"So a strong willed person might not change as fast as a weaker one?" Matt asked.

"Sort of. It just depends on the fact if a person has a subconscious will to change or not. Some people welcome change. They see it as something good, while others try to stay clear from it." Izzy continued. "It doesn't matter anyway. By the time we defeat the Dark Masters we'll all be changed."

"Now that's a nice ending. We defeat the Dark Masters and become digimon as well." Joe said sarcastically. "Seriously, I can't become a doctor if I have flippers or claws or whatever."

"I have to agree with Joe on this one." Mimi said. "No offence Palmon but I'd rather not turn into a plant."

"None taken Mimi." Palmon said, not really paying attention to her surroundings. She was having to much fun imagining Mimi as a half digimon half human.

"I think it's rather cool. Like some kind of new barrier to cross." Izzy said. "I mean, it's like evolution. The fact being that we don't really turn into digimon but more an evolved species of human..." Izzy went on for a while so everyone decided to ignore him.

Matt didn't say anything. He liked being human but if he were to change he wouldn't fight it.

Tai just smiled. He held up a strong face for the others. He had absolutely no intention of becoming a digimon, no matter how cool he would look. Tai liked being human. Being just Tai. A normal human without wings sticking out of his back or anything like that.

"Let's just focus on the Dark Masters for now." Tai said. "We'll worry about digital energy later."

The others nodded. "Now let's get going. I'd rather not encounter Puppetmon in these forests."

The others nodded again, though one person wasn't even there to nod.

"Wait a minute…where's TK?" Matt asked, immediately leaving the 'cool-guy' attitude behind him. Again.

"Woo-hoo!" A cry of joy was heard from above the trees. Just before a crashing sound filled the air.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Joe muttered as branches above him snapped. A loud crash and there was a winged kid on Joe's back while Joe himself was in a rather uncomfortable position on the ground. "Ouch." Joe said rather blankly.

* * *

Poor Joe ;)

I'm glad that so many people liked my first chapter. I've got a rather unexpected surprise for everyone later in this story 'EBIL laugh'

Reviews  
Lord Pata: Thanks, I never expected to get so many.

Graypheonix: Update! Woo! And Tai will not be turning into WarGreymon. I have something much more fun planned for him.

Depthmon: thanks

Super garurumon: I hope it'll be good. Thanks for reviewing

Anime25: thanks for the compliment.

Takari4ever3012: Lol, don't panic.

R&R people!


	3. Next Victim

**I don't own anything!**

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 3

Time went by slowly. Tai started to fear for his own humanity. He didn't want to change into anything else. He was happy as a human.

But he didn't have a choice. Eventually everyone would change into something else. Something not human, yet not digimon either.

Izzy calls it the next step in the human evolution.

"Izzy?" Tai asked a bit scared that morning. It had been a day since TK's change. "What is it?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" Tai asked as he looked away. He quickly swiped Mimi's mirror and held it in front of Izzy.

"Dude! That's so…Cool!" Izzy said, grabbing the mirror. His eyes were black, kind of like a beetle's eyes. That made some sense, with Izzy always hanging around Tentomon.

"How long do you think before I change completely?" Izzy asked eagerly. "Wait! Maybe I can calculate it!" Tai smacked his hand on his forehead. Izzy asked him a question and answered it himself. What's the point of asking stuff then? Not that he'd know the answer.

Tai sighed. He didn't like to admit it but Joe was right. He too missed the times were all they had to worry about were evil digimon.

He sighed again as he heard someone crash through the trees again. TK was having a bit of trouble with flying. He had no problem taking off. Staying in the air was the main problem. Plus he had the nasty habit of landing on Joe every time.

Good old reliable Joe. He had voiced his own opinions on this change right away. Like Tai he would fight it.

A frustrated groan was heard, causing Tai to snap back to reality. Matt was complaining about his starting change again. He had started last night. Apparently they were camping near a moderately big source of digital energy. Matt slept too close to it.

And now Matt was turning into a real lone wolf. He had a tail! One that looked a suspiciously lot like WereGarurumon's tail.

Tai couldn't help but laugh at this. Matt had problems sitting down now, with that tail getting in the way every time. According to Wolfboy it hurts like hell when you sit on your tail.

"Aaah!"

Another scream rang through the forests. One of these days they'd attract Puppetmon. Deciding to go check it out Tai stood up. It was probably someone else that started to change.

"Okay, who's the newest victim?" Tai asked nonchalantly.

"Sora!" Biyomon said, jumping up and down in excitement. Tai's mouth fell open once he looked at the creature next to Biyomon. A smaller version of Garudamon stood there. She was still bigger then him though. Almost two meters tall.

"Sora?" Tai asked as he looked up to the bird-like creature. She nodded while tears ran down her newly formed beak.

She looked just like Garudamon, the mask, the wings even the beak. The only difference was the size and the fact that Sora still wore some tattered clothes. Her body still looked rather human-like, except for the feathers and the chickenlegs.

"Izzy's damn map doesn't work." She said. "He said there weren't any major sources around. This place was supposed to be safe."

Tai had absolutely no idea what to say to her. How do you comfort someone that lost her humanity?

Luckily Joe broke the tension by getting crushed by TK again. Even though they were quite a bit apart from each other they heard it loud and clear.

'Poor Sora.' Was all that went through Tai's mind. That was until she grabbed him into a bone-crushing hug. 'Ouch.' Was his newest thought.

Sora quickly calmed down again.

"What am I going to do now Tai? I can't go home looking like this." She sobbed softly.

"I don't know. I just can't understand it. I haven't changed yet." Tai said. 'Let's keep it that way for now.' He added in his thoughts.

* * *

Soon night fell once more. They had almost made their way out of Puppetmon's forest. They'd rather take on MetalSeadramon first. He might be a lot bigger then the wooden toy that lives here but according to Izzy he was a lot weaker.

The others had changed some more. That day they had split up to look for food, so it had been like eight hours since he saw anyone but Sora. He did hear Joe's cries of pain a few times.

Matt's face was looking rather wolfish by now. His hair was replaced by the same mane of hair that WereGarurumon has, though there were obvious differences: instead of light-blue with blue stripes, Matt's fur was coloured blond with blue stripes.

He also sported a rather nasty set of sharp teeth that looked like he could tear a man in two with them.

Sitting next to him was Sora. Most people had been a bit shocked by her change. The didn't recognize her at first but soon realised who she was.

Next to her was Mimi, who hadn't changed in any way yet. She looked a bit afraid of the bird-girl sitting next to her. It seemed her mind was a bit in conflict. One part of her screamed that Sora was a fashion disaster but the stronger part told her that nothing had changed. She was still Sora on the inside.

Then there was Joe. He was turning into some kind of mummy-like digimon but that could be because of the fact that TK chose his head as a landing spot.

TK of course couldn't stop laughing at that. Tai suspected that the little angel had figured out how to fly rather easily. He just dropped on Joe for the fun of it.

Kari was sitting next to him. Apparently she and TK had become good friends over the past few days. Tai's big brother instincts told him to watch the boy a lot more closely in the future.

Tai's head started to hurt. Biyomon had started to boast again about how cool 'Soramon' (as she called her) looked. She just refused to shut up about it.

The digimon were excited, of course, by this change. Even Agumon wanted to see Tai change. He made a bet with the other digimon that his partner would turn into a WarGreymon look-a-like.

"Look at me! I'm flying!" A known voice yelled out.

A red shape hung in front of Mimi. "Buzz of Izzy." She yelled at the teen-turned-bug. Izzy had actually sought for a source of digital energy. He was now a miniature version of MegaKabuterimon. Well, miniature was an understatement. He was even taller then Sora was now.

"Buzz! Buzz!" Izzy joked and flew off again.

'He better stop making those bug-related jokes, else I'll swat him with a newspaper. A big one.' Tai thought as Izzy took for the skies.

"Okay, it's getting rather late. As soon as Izzy comes back someone will keep watch for an hour or two. Any volunteers?"

Matt lifted his hand, not even bothering to open his mouth to say anything. Tai decided that that was for the best.

He needed a few hours of sleep. He had tired himself out by collecting food and comforting people today.

Tai laid down on the cold ground. There wasn't a cave around for miles so they just camped in the middle of the forest. He knew it was dangerous but they all needed sleep.

Soon Tai was asleep, dreaming of soccer.

_

* * *

_

Tai ran towards the opponents goal. The score was 0-0 and if he managed to score one point his team would win the tournament.

_Sora kicked the ball to him. He__ now had a clear shot._

_Tai quickly calculated where he should kick. A split second latter he kicked with all the strength he could muster._

_But the ball didn't reach the goal. As a matter of fact, the ball was gone._

'_Where'd it go?' he said to his dream team-mates. 'Eh Tai? You'd better look down.' Normal Sora had been replaced by Bird Sora._

_Tai was afraid to look down but did so anyway._

_And he immediately wished he hadn't done so._

_The ball was still there. Pinned to the claws on what he once called feet._

_Tai screamed in terror but all he heard was a draconic roar of fear. He glanced at his hands and found the same: sharp claws that could rip through steel._

'_Don't be afraid Tai.' Sora said. 'It's fun being digital.'_

'_No-no-no.' Tai muttered repeatedly._

'_She's right.' Matt appeared out of no where, now completely changed. He looked like a blond version of WereGarurumon without the snazzy outfit but dressed in the rags of his old clothes._

'_I will not change-I will not change-I will not change.' Tai muttered, like some kind of Mantra._

'_You can't stop it Tai. Gennai calculated that before we can save the Digital World we'll all change.' Izzy appeared out of nowhere. 'Besides, it's fun!'_

_Tai screamed again in an attempt to wake himself up._

* * *

"Okay Joe, so now you put the shaving cream on his hand.' Gomamon instructed. 'Why did I let you talk me into this again?' Joe asked as he did what the seal told him. He couldn't even remember why he brought the shaving cream. He suspected that Gomamon had slipped it into his bag before they left but he wasn't sure.

"You're doing this because Matt's been trying scare you with his new dentals so that you would scream and then you would look like a wimp. Now be quiet."

Joe decided that the seal was right and placed even more shaving cream on Matt's hand, though it looked more like a paw now.

Gomamon picked up a feather that Sora lost earlier and moved it to Matt's face. 'Slowly.' He thought.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"

A scream was heard, causing Gomamon and Joe to jump up in fear (of getting caught)

Luckily no one woke from the sound.

Joe looked around to see who woke up. He saw Tai sitting up, sweat running down his face.

"Tai? Are you okay?" Joe asked cautiously.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, nothing to worry about. I just need to go-" Tai's arm hurt like hell all of a sudden. "Go to the toilet, yes that's it." Tai stood up and grabbed his sweater.

"That was weird." Joe said while Gomamon did a new attempt with the feather.

Tai quickly ran to the river. His left arm burnt. He knew something was happening to it but he was afraid to look at it.

He felt the human flesh on it dissolve, leaving him with the feeling that something was missing, that something was just plain wrong with his arm.

Tai used all his will power to stop himself from changing.

It worked. A bit. His left arm was now tingling with energy. It was as if it told him that it would be back. That the change would continue, whether he likes it or not.

Tai looked at his arm and nearly fainted at what he saw.

* * *

What happened to Tai? What will happen next? Why am I asking this stupid questions?

I hope everyone likes the changes I put the digidestined through. And you'll know what happened to Tai next chapter 'wink'

_Reviews_

_Lord Pata: I know! And poor Joe, at this rate he'll turn into a Mummymon._

_Graypheonix: Nice idea! Mind if I use it? And sorry no BlackWarGreymon either. I have something much more fun in mind 'EVIL LAUGH THAT SHATTERS BONE!!' _

_Depthmon: for Joe, he gets crushed every time _

_Super garurumon: I know but that's only because he's my favourite character_

_Doodle-chan: I liked writing that bit ;)_

As always: R&R people!


	4. Skin and Bones

Don't own so don't sue!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 4

"This just can't be good." Tai said, once he stopped screaming. He had tried to stop his change and now he was stuck with a real funky arm.

One without scales. Without feathers, fur or an exoskeleton.

One without skin. Just bone, white like snow in the middle of winter.

His entire left arm was bone. Cautiously he moved it. He felt the arm move. As if tiny tentacles in his arm made it move. A very strange sensation.

At this point Tai nearly had a nervous breakdown. He knew that he could never return to the real world. Not looking like his own worst nightmare. He had absolutely no idea why he was turning into a Grim Reaper look-a-like.

Had he brought this upon himself somehow? Was he being punished for something?

If that was the case, then he didn't know what he had done wrong. All he wanted was to remain human.

Maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe his will to remain human had back-fired.

Tai was starting to get a headache. He'd better get back to camp before Joe woke up the others to look for him.

He quickly put on his long-sleeved t-shirt. He was glad he had brought this with him. Tai never thought that he'd need it this much.

He needed it to prevent the others from discovering what had happened to their 'fearless' leader.

It wouldn't be good for group morale if he turned into their nightmare. He knew he was turning into a SkullGreymon hybrid of sorts. Others may have forgotten but he remembered every detail of that monster. The way his claws looked, the missing small bits of bone.

It looked familiar.

He banished that thought as he put on his blue long-sleaved T-shirt.

Tai checked his arm again. His sleeve covered it almost entirely. Just his hand wasn't covered. Tai gulped as he saw his hand. Sharp claws upon bony fingers. 'Maybe if my change limites itself to this then I might survive back in the real world.' He thought.

'Who am I kidding.' Tai thought immediately after.

He did an attempt to put on his glove. It didn't really fit so he pulled it off again, accidentally pulling something else of as well.

"Oh crap!" Tai looked at the gloveless hand. He had pulled of his ring finger. And now there were tiny tentacles coming out of his hand.

His finger fell on the ground. He quickly dropped to his knees to look for it but it was gone. It was nearly impossible to find it in the dark.

'This is bad.' He thought as he got back up.

Tai didn't really want to learn more about his new biology so he pulled on the glove again. It ripped a bit but at least his hand was covered.

"Tai?" A voice asked from behind him. Tai nearly fainted when he heard the voice.

"Ye-yes?" Tai asked, trying to act as if nothing happened. He found that rather difficult, being confronted with his sister's face.

"Are you okay? Joe said something about you having a nightmare and running off." Kari said, eying a nervous Tai weirdly.

"Sure! Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Tai stammered, holding his arm behind his back, just in case she might notice something odd.

"You're acting weird." Kari concluded.

"Could be but I'm still tired and you should get back to bed as well." Tai decided to use the big brother tactic on her.

Kari continued to eye him strangely. She could read her brother like a book. He was hiding something.

"Come on then!" Tai walked off, back to camp. Kari stayed behind for a while.

"What do you think? Gatomon?" She asked as a feline stepped out of the shadows.

"Something fishy. And not the good kind." She said, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "What do you mean?" Kari responded.

"This place reeks of death." Gatomon said darkly. "There's something going on with your brother and I'm going to find out what."

Kari gasped a bit at the mention of death. What did she mean by that?

Tai made his way back to camp, only to see Matt smear his own face with shaving cream in his sleep. He wasn't going to be very happy tomorrow.

He laid down on his spot again, trying to ignore the numb feeling of his left arm. He was a bit disturbed by the fact that he left a body-part behind at the river. Maybe he could go back tomorrow and retrieve it.

Maybe tomorrow this all would be a bad dream.

* * *

Maybe not…

Tai woke up just in time to see Matt waking up as well. His entire face was covered with shaving cream. And that stuff was next to impossible to remove without a good scrubbing. He was furious and looked like he could kill anyone who looked at him strangely.

Matt had absolutely no idea who did that to him. He suspected Joe for a minute but he believed that Joe didn't have enough backbone to do that.

Meanwhile Joe and Gomamon had retreated themselves to the river, currently laughing their asses off.

"Damn that was fun!" Joe exclaimed. "Did you see his face?" Gomamon snickered.

"Seriously Joe, I never thought you had it in you." Gomamon said once the duo stopped laughing.

"I thought the same thing but you proved me wrong…" Joe was going to add something more but was distracted by something lying at his feet.

"What the…" He picked it up. And dropped it again.

"Bo-bo-bo-bone!" He nearly jumped in the river to get away from it. Luckily he didn't do so, else he might have drowned.

"Sheesh Joe it's just a bone." Gomamon said, doing an attempt at picking up the finger. "Really, you'll have to get used to stuff like this if you want to be a doctor."

"But Gomamon, Digimon don't leave behind skeletons!" Joe freaked. "Do they?"

"Of course not Joe." Gomamon said.

"Then how do you explain the bone-" Once again Joe was cut off by the fluttering of wings, a scream, followed by a crashing sound.

"Not again…" He sighed as TK landed on his head, again.

"Sorry Joe!" TK grinned, while Gomamon gave him a thumbs up, as far as it was possible.

"So Joe…What were you yelling about?" TK asked, innocent look on his face as he asked the question.

"Joe found this." Gomamon held up Tai's finger. Of course they didn't know about that yet.

"Cool. It looks like a finger." TK said, not even questioning where it came from. "Mind if I keep this?"

"You can keep it if you get off me." Joe muttered as he pulled his face out of the dirt.

"Done!" TK lifted off again.

"I swear Gomamon, one of these days I'll fly up and crash-land on his head for a change." Joe grumbled as he stoop up and wiped the dirt on his clothes.

"Sure Joe, sure." Gomamon said, voice betraying the lack of faith in Joe's threat.

Slowly the duo made their way back to camp. If they sticked around a bit longer they would have witnessed a panicking Tai standing a bit further away in search of his missing appendage.

Tai frantically searched but his ring finger was gone. 'Someone must have found it.' He thought. 'Great, just great. Keep it together Tai, else you'll end up losing your head.' Tai gulped as he thought that. With his change that could be happening real soon.

* * *

"Hey Joe, you were on guard last night, right?" Matt asked as the teen and his seal-like digimon returned.

"Yeah…" Joe knew where this was going.

"Do you know who got this stuff on me?" Matt asked, eyes on Joe as if trying to detect a lie.

"Nope, no idea." Joe said with a huge grin.

"Okay lizard-lips, I believe you for now." Matt said, turning around again.

"What did he mean by that?" Joe asked once Matt was out of earshot. "Eh Joe? You might want to nick Mimi's mirror." Gomamon said, trying to hide his obvious excitement.

"Oh no. Oh no. Don't tell me…" Joe quickly picked up the mirror lying on the ground near the campfire. "Damn it!" -

"Joe don't swear! There ware impressionable little minds around here!" Gomamon said, failing to hides his smile now.

Joe stared at his mirror image. His once normal human teeth had been replaced by thin razor sharp teeth. His lips had turned a strange yellow colour, one he had seen before but couldn't really place.

"Great, just great." Joe refused to look at his selfimage again but still kept ahold of the mirror, as if it was some kind of hidden sin that he just couldn't stop himself from.

"Oh cheer up Joe, it could be worse." Gomamon said trying to comfort the slightly distressed Joe.

"How?" The blue-haired teen asked, fingering one of his teeth gingerly. He'd rather not cut himself on them.

"Well, you could be turning into something fluffy and pink." Gomamon said, not able to think off anything else.

* * *

"Who keeps stealing my mirror?" Mimi asked as she saw it was gone. Again. "Seriously, do I steal other peoples stuff?"

"Off course not Mimi." Palmon said. "But can you blame them?"

"No, not really." Mimi responded. She eventually found her mirror in the hands of a distressed Joe.

"So you're the next victim?" Mimi asked, trying not to sound insulting or anything. She knew that Joe would have trouble with this change. So would she but she wouldn't admit that.

Joe just smiled. A small gasp told him enough.

"So, do you know what you're turning in?" Mimi asked, in an attempt to calm herself down a bit by distracting herself.

"Not really." Joe admitted. "Maybe Izzy knows, he still has that analyser on his laptop, right?" Mimi nodded.

"Good, then let's find bug-boy. If I'm to change into anything then I want to know what superpowers, if any, I will have." Joe allowed a soft smile to grace his face.

* * *

"Okay, so I am currently turning into my greatest nightmare." Tai concluded. "Now what?" He said to himself, seeing that there was no one around. He had separated himself from the group for a while. They had planned to get out of the forest at noon.

So he still had some time.

Slowly he pulled off his glove. Shuddering at the sight he saw. A fleshless hand with one missing finger and a bunch of weird tentacles protruding from his hand where said finger had been.

"What to do, what to do." He said to himself. "Do I tell them or do I hide it…" Tai was confused and scared. After the SkullGreymon incident the others had nearly left him. What if they did the same thing now that he was turning into SkullGreymon?

"What to do?" He said again, not noticing a shape within the shadows behind him.

"So you started to change already?"

That voice made Tai freeze up. He had thought no one followed him. But there was the fact that not all of his companions were human. Some could move through the shadows without ever being noticed.

Tai slowly turned around, hoping that she came alone.

"So Tai, why aren't you bragging to the others about this?" Gatomon asked sweetly, though she had a malicious smile on her face. Come to think of it, all of her smiles are malicious…

"Okay, you caught me…" Tai started. " But please don't tell anyone about this." He nearly begged.

"Why not? I mean, everyone is changing. So why can't the others know?" Gatomon asked as she looked up at him. He was nervous for some reason. Tai didn't show it but she could smell it. Along with the smell of death that lingered around him since last night.

"They'd hate me." Was Tai's answer, lifting up his left arm. He flexed his remaining fingers. It was still a part of him but he hated that part.

Gatomon responded with a confused look. "Why would they hate you? I know Skull-digimon aren't liked, with all the grave robbing and such. But they're still your friends."

"As I said, they'd hate me for becoming like this." He sighed. "Before you and Kari joined the team. We were collecting crests and tags."

He thought back at that awful memory.

"I was the first one to get one." He snarled at that. "Courage my ass. I thought I was king of the world. I force-fed Agumon all the food we had AND endangered myself, just to get him to digivolves."

Gatomon had a nasty feeling in her stomach, she felt as if she already knew what was going to happen.

"Agumon turned into SkullGreymon. I nearly got all of us killed that day." Tai continued.

"And that's why I don't want them to know."

Gatomon had no idea what to say at this moment. But the silence was broken as Tai fell to the ground, gripping his chest in pain and screamed.

* * *

Indeed I am evil! 'Evil laugh!' Come on, who saw it coming? And to people who want to know why I chose SkullGreymon: I picked him because I can't really recall any fanfiction where Tai turned into SkullGreymon. He will off course be a hybrid of a human and a digimon but at least he'll be bony!

Reviews:

Lord Pata: Yes, Kari will get wings but she'll probably have a bit of Gatomon too ;)

Graypheonix: Ah man… Why does everyone guess my awesome plots?

Depthmon: Sorry, no WarGreymon. I like that bad-ass warrior of courage but I like SkullGreymon just a bit more

vanhelsing425: Yes, I know but I just love cliff-hangers

Super garurumon: Tai is my second favourite character but it's just hard to write a story with Joe as the main protagonist

doodle-chan: Watch out for the walls! They hurt! (Serious, they do)

Takari4ever3012: Yeah, I like making my favourite characters suffer ;)

D.J striker: As I already said: sorry but no Wargreymon but thanks for the compliments

R&R people!


	5. Attack of the Dark Master

I don't own digimon!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 5

It burned. That was the only way to describe the pain. As if acid was dissolving him from the inside.

Gatomon rushed towards him, putting her paws on his shoulders, trying to get him to sit up. "Tai? Hang in there! I'll go get help!"

"No!" Tai struggled to utter. "Don't… I'm fine." He did an attempt to get up but fell again.

"Tai, get over it! If I don't get help you'll end up dead!" She nearly yelled back as Tai finally managed to stand up.

"Not funny Gatomon." Tai said, indicating his arm.

Gatomon just glared at him. "You know what I meant Tai! And I'm serious about this. No one screamed like that when he changed." She knew that wasn't true. TK screamed his lungs out but that was out of fear.

Tai's screams were pure pain.

"I'm fine." Tai muttered, before taking of his shirt. He was curious, yet terrified at the same time, to see what had changed this time.

Gatomon averted her eyes as Tai dropped the shirt on the ground. When no sound was heard for a minute she opened one eye.

Where Tai's normal, fleshy chest was supposed to be was a collection of bones. A cage of bone surrounded an orange mass. Tai had absolutely no idea about SkullGreymon's biology. The only thing he knew was that it moved around with a bunch of tentacles through the bones. His missing finger proved that.

There were still tentacles flailing around, trying to get a grip on something.

"Gatomon?" He decided to ask her. She was an expert on dark digimon, seeing that she had lived amongst them for quite some time. "What do you know about SkullGreymon?"

Gatomon sat down and scratched her chin. "Not much actually." She said. "I know that they are a parasite of sorts." She said hopeful that it might help Tai a bit. She knew it wouldn't but it was a nice thought.

"Parasite? What do you mean?" Tai said, al the while thinking something amongst the lines off: 'So now I'm a parasite. Great, just great.'

"You know that strange orange blob in their chest?" Tai looked down to his own chest. "THAT is SkullGreymon actually. He's really weak in his natural form. That's why he uses bones to move around. That's why we call it a parasite, it needs something else to die, so it can live."

"Kind of like a hermit crab." Tai stated. "A what?" Gatomon asked, having absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"A hermit crab picks up old abandoned shells and uses them as protection." Tai stated, picking up his T-shirt again.

"Let's just get back to the others. Else they'll get worried and start looking for us." Tai said, heading back to where they came from. "Oh and Gatomon?" Tai looked at the cat-like digimon. "This never happened, okay? I'll tell them when I'm ready."

Gatomon grumbled and muttered something under her breath.

* * *

"So, everyone ready to leave this place?" Tai asked.

"For the last time, yes!" Matt growled. "Down Matt." Sora said to the wolfboy. Matt just growled again, only a bit less audible.

Soon they were heading towards the ocean. It was visible from between the trees already, so it shouldn't take more then an hour to get there.

"So Izzy, do you know what Joe's turning into?" Mimi asked curiously. Izzy had a bit of trouble with his laptop, seeing that the keyboard was made for fingers, not claws. But he managed to do a scan of Joe anyway.

"Let's see… put this file there… open up this…" Izzy muttered, all the while flying at a steady pace. It was a bit weird but Izzy actually had wings to fly with, unlike MegaKabuterimon. Said bug digimon flew through what Matt called 'fire coming out of his ass.'

All of the sudden Izzy started to laugh.

"Okay, what's so funny?" Joe said, obviously annoyed by Izzy's behaviour.

"You're turning into…" Izzy couldn't even say it. He just turned the laptop towards Joe.

Joe stared at the computer. A familiar snake-like creature stared back.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Joe sulked. "What is it?" Mimi pushed Joe out of the way and looked at the picture. She found it hilarious actually but was polite enough not to laugh at Joe's plight.

"What is it?" Tai decided to ask. He did live in denial but he was a bit curious about Joe's change.

"He's turning into a Seadramon look-a-like!" Izzy laughed. "But he can't even swim!"

"Hey stop laughing at Joe bugboy!" Gomamon jumped up and down angrily. "I bet you can't swim either, looking like that."

Izzy stopped laughing. Gomamon was right. In this shape he'd never be able to swim. He was to heavy to swim and with wet wings you can't escape the water.

"See?" Gomamon said, calmed down a bit.

Tai had no idea what to think about all of this. He had only heard about Joe's change a few minutes ago. He was a bit confused actually. Most of the changed turned into a smaller, more humanoid version of their digimon. Sora turned into Garudamon, Matt into WereGarurumon. Heck, even he was turning into a SkullGreymon look-a-like.

So why was Joe turning into Seadramon? He'd have to ask Agumon about it later.

That was another thing. Should he tell Agumon about this change? He knew Agumon wouldn't tell anyone about it. He may be a bit of an idiot but Agumom was reliable.

He'd tell Agumon.

But not today. He needed to think things over a bit.

"Hey Matt!" He heard TK yell. He saw how Joe instinctively jumped to the ground underneath a tree.

Tai saw how little TK landed next to his brother. "Check this out!" He held up something but Tai couldn't see what it was. "Joe found it this morning by the river."

That made Tai's heart (or whatever that thing in his chest was) stop for a second. TK had his finger! What else could it be? There wasn't anything else interesting around.

He decided to tune out his thoughts for a while. He'd need to find a way to get it back soon. it would be very suspicious if he asked it back. Even more if he wasn't able to return it to TK.

Life used to be so simple.

* * *

They eventually arrived at the ocean. It was getting dark soon so they decided to set up camp here.

'Tomorrow we wil fight him.' Tat thought. 'MetalSeadramon is the weakest of the quartet. But we're still in for one hell of a battle.'

"Are you okay Tai?" A familiar voice broke him free from his thoughts. "I'm fine Agumon."

"You sure, you seem a bit off lately." Agumon said suspiciously. He wasn't sure what but there was something different with Tai.

"I'm fine, don't worry so much." Tai smiled.

"If you're sure." Agumon ran off again, leaving Tai alone with his thoughts.

"So Tai, are you really 'fine' as you keep saying it?" Kari had snuck up to him. He wasn't really surprised by that. She did that all the time at home, trying to scare her big brother.

"Why does everyone keep thinking that something's wrong?" Tai buried his head in his hands.

"I think it's because you're the only one that takes this change so lightly." Kari said as she sat down next to her brother. "We're all excited and scared at the same time of this change, but you're acting like nothing happened. You haven't said anything about it since TK changed."

"Is it that obvious?" He asked. Kari nodded furiously. "Listen." Tai started. "Don't tell anyone about this but…"

Kari looked at her brother as he tried to find the right words.

"…I'm scared. Better said, terrified. I have absolutely no idea what will happen next and that scares me."

Kari muttered a soft "Oh."

"I'm scared of how the human world will look at us when we return." Tai said softly.

Tai stood up. "I'm going to bed early today. Good night."

Kari looked how her big brother laid down in his sleeping bag. His words had confused her. Why would he be afraid of this change. She understood that he was afraid of other peoples reaction. But people would accept them, right?

Maybe there was something else, something deeper. Kari decided to play detective and ask the others. Surely they would know.

Kari walked over to Sora. She has been Tai's best friends ever since she could remember. If anyone would know it was her.

"Sora?" Said person looked down at the smaller girl. Those eyes of here could pierce right through your soul now. But behind them was still the same caring person she always was.

"What's the matter?" She asked the person she had begun to see as a baby sister.

"Do you know if something…bad happened with Tai here?" Kari asked as she sat down next to Sora.

"What do you mean?" Sora was a bit confused about where that question had come from.

"It's Tai. It's as if he's scared of something here in the Digital World." Kari answered.

Sora had a sorrowful look in her eyes. "I think I know what. Didn't Tai tell you about SkullGreymon?"

There was something eerie about that name.

"I guess that means no." Sora said as she saw Kari's confused look. "Can't blame him though. I'd rather never think about it ever again."

This intrigued the younger girl even more. She waited for Sora to continue.

"When we were searching for the Tags we ended up in the desert. Tai found his Tag there. The Tag of Courage. When he obtained it, well…Tai changed. He thought he needed to protect us."

That sounded like Tai all right.

"Tai started to force-feed Agumon all our food. He then proceeded to endanger himself, just to make Agumon digivolve to Ultimate. As you can probably guess something went wrong."

Kari knew something went terribly wrong. She could see it on Sora's face. She may look like a bird now but Kari could still read her like a book.

"Instead of turning into MetalGreymon, Greymon turned into SkulGreymon. A terrible creature that was created from nightmares. It nearly destroyed us all."

Kari knew enough. Tai was probably still feeling guilty about that. He must have begun to fear that creature more as time went on.

Maybe she'd try to talk to Tai about it tomorrow.

* * *

Tai slept rather good. At least this night he didn't have any nightmares. He slept tight until…

"Tai! Wake up! Hurry!" Agumon shook him. Tai groggily opened his eyes. "Wha-what's going on?"

"It's MetalSeadramon! He found us!" This woke Tai up immediately. He stood up and saw the metal snake surface from the deeps.

"Great, just great." Tai said to himself. "Agumon! Digivolve!"

"**Agumon warp digivolves to…**

The all to familiar light engulfed him but faded quickly.

"**Agumon…"**

"What's going on?" Agumon asked confused. "Why can't I digivolve?"

"No idea." Tai said, though he had a suspicion why.

"Listen Agumon I think I know why-

He was cut off as MetalSeadramon dived under the water again and created a huge wave. They would have drowned if it weren't for…

"Gotcha!" Sora picked him up and flew off with him, just in time as the wave smashed into the beach. Tai looked next to him to see Biyomon carry Agumon with great difficulty.

"Thanks Sora. I owe you one." Tai said as she landed again, this time on a cliff. "When did he show up?" Tai asked, indicating the Dark Master set on killing them.

"Fifteen minutes ago." Sora said as she took off again. "And why didn't anyone wake me then?"

"We thought we could handle it without WarGreymon. But I don't think we can." Sora said as he hovered in front of their leader.

"Then we're in deep trouble, the fact being that he can't digivolve for some reason."

"Oh crap."

* * *

"Come on Joe! You can do it!" Zudomon laughed as he floated in the water. Joe was sitting on his back as they fought against MetalSeadramon.

Joe had suffered some more changes during the night. He now looked like a tiny version of Seadramon, the only difference being that he still had limbs. His hands and feet were webbed and clawed and he had a rather long tail as well.

All and all Joe looked scary, if it weren't for the fact that he was clinging to one of Zudomon's spikes.

"Come on Joe! We need all the help we can get!" Zudomon said as he shook his shell. Joe couldn't hold on and was send flying through the air. "Aaaaaaagh!!"

"I can't swim! I can't s- Joe's screams were drowned out by the water.

Nothing happened for a while. The water surface remained still.

And then…

"I can swim!" Joe jumped up out of the water. His new look had apparently gifted him with swimming skills.

Joe was actually rather fast by water. He swam towards MetalSeadramon. He hadn't really thought this over. He didn't have a plan or anything. He just did what he thought was right.

'_clamp'_

Tai didn't see that coming. Joe had actually _bit _MetalSeadramon. He had bit in one of the flippers, at the spot were flesh and metal merged.

"Pathetic digimon!" MetalSeadramon screamed. "I'm two levels above you! Do you really think you can hurt me?"

"Yes!" Joe mumbled as he sunk his teeth even deeper.

Tai thought about what the giant sea snake said. He spoke to Joe as if they were of the same family. Joe did have some Seadramon in him but even that huge dunce should see the difference.

"Rawrr!" MetalSeadramon screamed and flung his body around, trying to get rid of Joe. He did. Tai watched helplessly as Joe slammed into the cliff he and Agumon were standing on.

Joe fell down onto the sand beneath the cliff as if never to move again...

* * *

_I may be a bit evil. Nah, couldn't be. By the way: I created a new biology for SkullGreymon, to explain why he's hated so much and how he moves around._

_Reviews_

Lord Pata: I hope you like Joe's change

Super garurumon: I know! That's why it's so funny

Martiny the one and only still: That might happen. I'm still not entirely sure what powers I'm going to give them

Depthmon: indeed he will

doodle-chan: Let's just say he has a bit of heart burn ;)

anime25: The same. There's nothing more fun then killing your favourite characters

Takari4ever3012: cliffhangers are fun


	6. Only one left

Ron doesn't own anything! (By the way: I'm Ron)

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 6

"Joe!" Many a voice yelled out. One stayed silent.

Tai felt his whole body surge with rage. "You." He looked at Metalseadramon, bloodlust clear in his eyes. "You will die."

Agumon watched his partner in shock. Never had he heard such venom in his voice. "Taichi?" He asked nervously.

"Try to digivolve again." Tai said, turning to Agumon. The Rookie-level digimon flinched at the sight of Tai's eyes. They were a deep green colour, oozing with anger and bloodlust. Agumon was glad that said bloodlust was not aimed at him.

"I'll try again." He said, diverting his eyes from Tai's gaze.

"**Agumon warp digivolve to…****"**

The all to familiar light surrounded Agumon as his body was twisted and pulled into something new.

"**WarGreymon!!"**

WarGreymon stood there, blades reflecting what little sunlight there was. He looked somewhat different though. His skin was a much darker shade of orange and his hair was a bit lighter then before.

Tai let out a roar, one exactly like SkullGreymon's. All digimon and half-digimon turned around to look for the source of the voice.

Wargremon looked at Tai with a look of horror and curiosity mixed together. "I'll tell you about it later." Tai said as he got a grip on himself again. "I'll hold you to that." WarGreymon said as he leaped off into battle.

* * *

"Come on Joe!" TK sobbed as he landed next to the unconscious form of Joe. "I'm sorry about landing on your head so many times."

Others were to busy fighting to see what happened next. The only other spectator was Tai, who was currently trying to climb down. Using his clawed hand Tai quickly climbed down, leaving deep gashes in the rock.

"What the…?" He said as he climbed low enough and jumped down to land on the soft sand. He quickly pulled on his glove again and prayed no one saw him do that. "The hell is that?"

A golden light was visible on TK's hands.

The young boy obviously hadn't noticed what he was doing.

"TK?" Tai said softly, trying not to startle the digidestined of hope. "You might want to look at your hands."

"What?" TK did so and nearly fell over when he saw what he was doing. The light quickly faded.

"What was that?" He asked. "No idea." Tai said. "What were you thinking about when it happened?"

"About Joe. About…How I can help him." TK said softly as he looked at Joe's broken form.

The gears in Tai's head started turning. "Try that again."

"Huh?"

"I said: try that again." TK did so and soon his hands were glowing like a light bulb. "Now hold your hands against Joe.

TK did so hesitantly, afraid that he might hurt Joe more then help him. To his surprise Joe started glowing the same light as his hands.

The Seadramon-hybrid opened his eyes again. "Damn, did anyone get that snake's license plate?"

"You're okay!" TK yelled, hurling himself at Joe. Tai smiled. The frustration and bloodlust that filled his heart disappeared again, as if it never was there in the first place.

"WarGreymon!" MetalGarurumon yelled. "About time you woke up!"

"Hey it's not my fault you forgot to wake me!" WarGreymon yelled back.

"Sorry about that." Matt said back from atop of his mega-level digimon. "We thought we could handle it."

WarGreymon didn't reply and shot straight into battle. He easily dodged MetalSeadramon's attacks but something troubled him, distracting him from the fight.

MetalSeadramon took that as an opportunity to attack. Again he missed and at the same time he pissed WarGreymon off.

"Terra Force!" He yelled, before spinning like a top and launching himself down MetalSeadramon's throat and destroying him from the inside out.

"Wow." Garudamon said as WarGreymon popped out halfway through the steel serpent. "That was a bit brutal, don't you think?" Sora said as she landed on her bigger look-alike.

MetalSeadramon dissolved into digital dust. And with him the ocean started to disappear.

"Okay everyone out of the pool!" Zudomon yelled as he got out of the water just in time.

"Hey Joe, you okay?" Zudomon asked before dedigivolving to Gomamon. Luckily the shores weren't part of the ocean bit of Spiral Mountain so they remained where they were.

"I am, thanks to TK. The kid might make a better doctor then me." Joe grinned, exposing his lizard-like teeth.

"What do you mean?" Kari asked as she jumped off of MegaKabuterimon, who just landed as well.

"TK has got the magic touch." Tai stated. "He healed Joe from the brink of death."

"Seriously?" Some others asked. "Else I wouldn't be here anymore." Joe said with an even broader smile.

"Not bad little brother." Matt said, patting his sibling on the back.

* * *

"So, now what?" Tai asked. "Do we head back to Puppetmon's forest or do we take on Machinedramon?"

"Better Puppetmon." Izzy said as he opened up his laptop. "According to this he's weaker then Machinedramon."

"Where do you keep getting that information anyway?" Mimi asked as the beetle-boy smiled. Sort of… A bit hard to see with mandibles.

"No idea. This thing just updates itself constantly."

"Anyway, let's just rest for now." Matt said. "We'll never be able to defeat two Dark Masters in one day."

"Fangs is right." Tai said, earning a soft snarl from his rival. "We're al tired, right." Tai wasn't actually, seeing the fact that he was only awake for like fifteen minutes.

The others nodded. Meanwhile Wargreymon landed next to Tai before dedigivolving back to Agumon.

"Come on Agumon, let's get some food." Tai said, indicating that he needed to talk to the lizard-like creature. Agumon caught on and ran up ahead.

Soon the duo was out of sight.

"Did anyone else hear that scream?" Sora asked. "You know which one I mean."

The others, minus Kari looked down. "I heard something but I have no idea what it was." She said. "I only know that it sounded scary."

"There's only one thing that makes such a sound." Gabumon said. "SkullGreymon." He said.

"You think there's one around?" Mimi cringed. "I don't know. It sounded close anyway." Izzy said, uncomfortable with the current situation.

"There was something weird though." Gabumon said. "Close or not, that roar sounded…strange. Not the normal kind for a SkullGreymon."

"What does that mean?" Matt asked, not reaaly understanding what his partner digimon was trying to say.

"SkullGreymon's, since they have no real body and thus no vocal cords, communicate by roaring, since it's the only sound they can make. Most digimon can't understand what they say. But…" Gabumon pointed at himself. "Since me and Agumon are related I can understand them. Matt probably can as well"

"Scary." Mimi said as she looked at Matt. "Why would you even want to understand them?"

Gabumon decided to ignore that statement. "He screamed with bloodlust in his voice but not out of hate, more like frustration. As if he felt helpless at something."

"You got all that out of one roar?" Tentomon asked. Gabumon just smiled.

* * *

"Okay Tai, you have some explaining to do." Agumon said once they were far enough from possible listeners. "What happened there?"

Tai sighed and took off his glove, exposing the bony appendage to the cold air. Three fingers, a thumb and a hole were a finger used to be. All bones.

"Is that what I think it is?" Agumon asked, not believing what he saw before him.

"It started a few days ago." Tai pulled up his sleeve, showing Agumon the skinless bones forming his entire arm. "This happened after a nightmare."

"Let me get this straight. You are turning into something we all fear." Tai nodded. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Tai turned around and stared at his hand. "I'm afraid." Agumon's eyes widened. Tai continued. "Afraid that the others will hate me for looking like this."

'Their worst nightmare.' He thought. Of course that was just one part of the reason. By the didn't really want to tell Agumon about the other part.

Agumon took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Taichi Kamiya!" Agumon yelled as he allowed his calm to slip away again and jumped up to whack Tai on the head. "We have all been hanging out for months now! They're your friends!"

"I know that." Tai said calmly, nursing the huge bump on his head. "It's just a gut feeling I have." Tai said as he lifted his shirt, revealing that the change had spread even further. Almost his entire stomach was gone.

At this Agumon fainted.

"Didn't see that coming." Tai said to no one in particulair. "Maybe I should have given him a warning."

'But then again, I didn't even know it spread so far.' He thought.

"Well, let's just collect something to eat or whatever it was." Tai honestly couldn't remember what excuse he used to get away from the others. He dragged Agumon over to a rock near the cliffs.

* * *

Tai barely found anything to eat. The main problem being that he was on a beach. One without water. That disappeared with MetalSeadramon. So there were no fish around. The only other food was on the cliff above him, where the forest started again.

And said cliff was way to steep to climb.

Basically he had to return empty-handed.

After a while he was able to wake Agumon up, his chest and stomach covered again off course.

"You said you had a gut feeling right?" Tai nodded. "How's that possible when you don't have a gut anymore?" Agumon burst out laughing after he got over the shock.

"Very funny Agumon." Tai rolled his eyes. One thing he had to work on with Agumon was his sense of humour.

"So…when are you going to tell the others?" Agumon asked, already having a good idea of what the answer would be like.

"I'll tell them when I'm ready." Tai answered calmly.

"When is that? When you grow a tail?" Agumon joked. "Probably." Tai answered, allowing a soft smile to grace his face.

"You're a nutcase Tai." Agumon said as they arrived back with the others.

* * *

"Sorry people, no food. Had trouble getting up there." He pointed upward to the cliffs. "Did I miss anything?"

"Not really." Mimi said. "Except that." She pointed at Kari. Tai's jaw dropped to the floor.

"When did that happen?" Tai exclaimed as he saw the eight wings on his sister's back.

"About ten minutes after you left." Kari smirked.

'Great, so now she and Matt's brother have something in common.' Tai thought. 'I'm going to have to keep my eye on him.'

"So can you fly with them?" Tai asked.

"Don't know, haven't tried it yet." Kari said looking up at her big brother. She didn't know why but for some reason she felt something dark coming from him. Dark, not evil… Gatomon noticed it as well but she already knew what was going on. Still she kept it to herself.

"Ask TK or Sora to help you with that." Tai said before walking off again. "Oh and by the way: try not to land on Joe, okay?"

Kari smiled. 'Silly big brother.' She thought as she walked off to find TK.

"Well Tai, that just leaves you and me." Mimi said as she and Palmon walked next to Tai and Agumon. "Indeed." Tai said.

"Mimi?" He asked as they stopped for a while to gaze at the void next to them. "Are you afraid of this change?" Mimi and Palmon looked a bit confused by that question.

"Terrified actually." Mimi said. "I'm just a bit afraid of what I'll become. No offence to Joe, Matt and Izzy but I'd rather not become a snake, dog or bug."

'Or a skeleton.' Tai added in his own thoughts.

"Mimi!" Palmon yelled out. "We all know you'll become a beautiful flower. Like me!"

Mimi, Tai and Agumon sweatdropped for a second. "Right." Mimi said, trying to break the awkward silence that followed. She turned her attention to Tai. "What do you think you'll change into?"

Tai feared that she'd ask that. "I don't know actually." He said, lying through his teeth. Agumon did his best not to snort at Tai's response.

"The same." Mimi responded.

Mimi thought for a second. She had forgotten something. But what…

"Oh yeah!" She exclaimed as she remembered what. "You didn't happen to see a SkullGreymon around here, did you?"

Tai's eyes shot open. 'Crap.' He thought. "Wha-What do you mean?" He asked, doing his best not to stutter. "We heard one, just as Joe got knocked down by MetalSeadramon."

'Crap-crap-crap-crap…' Was all that went through his mind.

"Gabumon said something about it being more…frustrated then bloodthirsty, whatever that means."

"Mimi, what if one of had changed into SkullGreymon?" Tai blurted out, immediately regretting it once the words left his mouth.

"Huh?" Mimi was surprised by the question. She thought about it. Apparently all digimon were a possibility. Joe being the main evidence.

"I'd probably scream." She started, making Tai cringe a bit. "Then I'd faint. Wake up, faint again and then I'd accept it." This wasn't what Tai expected. "Serious?"

"Of course. I may be a bit shallow but the outside doesn't show the inside." Mimi said, voice filled with ancient wisdom.

"Thanks Mimi." Tai said before running off with Agumon behind him. "For what?" She asked but he was already out of earshot.

"That was weird." Palmon said. "Why did he tense up like that once you mentioned SkullGreymon?"

"He's probably still blaming himself for what happened back then." Mimi said. "Hey do you hear that?"

A falling sound was heard.

'_Bam'_

The still running shape of Tai was knocked down by a short brown-haired girl falling from the sky. Mimi could vaguely hear Kari say: "At least I didn't land on Joe!"

* * *

Ah poor Tai. As long as there are people like me he'll be tortured like this.

By the way: I'm planning on writing a Naruto fic soon. How does an evil Naruto and Chouji sound? I also plan on doing a short one on Jirobo. Might be up next week or later

To the reviews!!

Anime25: He's still able to digivolve. Just with Tai's incomplete change he needed an extra boost. Mimi will turn sooner or later and thank you. At least this chapter didn't have a cliffhanger ;)  
Super Garurumon:He'll get it back, don't worry and it would be funny to see Matt maul him. I mean, dog versus pile of bones  
graypheonix: He might just do that 'hint-hin'  
Depthmon: lol, that might just work! If it weren't for the fact that i killed him this chapter 'whistles'  
Lord Pata: I know, it's hilarious! But I only did it because of the fact that Gomamon's other digivolution is seadramon (and some others) and the fact that it's funny ;)  
athenawings: Because I've never read a fanfic where he turned into one, so I wrote one myself  
doodle-chan: They probably won't actually. I have an entire storyline planned out for them! (including the movie!) And O like Tai as a parasite. you'll know why later 'EVIL laugh inserted'  
Takari4ever3012: Nah, can't let my favorite character die, can I? And he turned into a Seadramon look-alike. I think I mentioned it in the previous chapter.  
Minwolf: Thank you and indeed: it sucks to be Tai (when I'm the author) and you're right about Joe. I love Ikkakumon but I like Seadramon just a bit better so I picked him

R&R people!


	7. The Puppetmaster's domain

Do not own Digimon

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 7

That same night the team known as the digidestined went back to Puppetmon's forest. Off course they stuck to the edges for now, the fact being that the battle against MetalSeadramon had tired them. To face another Dark Master at this moment would mean their destruction.

It was a weird sight to behold: two angels, a bird, a wolf, a beetle, a sea serpent, a skeleton posing as a human, a real human and a bunch of digimon sitting round a campfire.

Life was weird.

"So, does anyone know how to deal with Puppetmon?" Tai asked, trying to get a conversation going as the silence was currently killing him.

"He's made of wood, right?" Matt asked. Tai nodded. "Then burn him."

Tai sweatdropped for a second. "That could work."

"No offence Matt, but that won't work." Izzy said, using all four of his arms to tap on his keyboard.

"What do you mean?" TK asked.

"Well, you see Puppetmon, though he looks like a piece of wood, is actually made of petrified wood, stone if you will. And as such will not burn."

"Where do you keep getting this stuff?" Joe asked as he rolled his eyes.

"Gennai. He has send me files about every Dark Master." He showed his laptop to the others, revealing four pictures. Three lit ones and one shaded with a red X over it.

"What else does it say about Puppetmon?" Tai asked, intrigued by this new information.

"Not much. He's a puppeteer, but we already knew that. He has quite a temper, he's a sore loser and believes himself to be quite the strategist. Which he isn't." Izzy red off the screen.

* * *

Somewhere else, in a huge manor in the middle of the forest a wooden figure sneezed, producing a sound heard rather far.

"Damn nose." He muttered as he continued his evil plans.

"Ha-ha! Piedmon was right!" Puppetmon danced in a rather creepy, doll-like way.

"There are lots and lots of fun things to do with this flood of Digital Energy!" He said, looking at a small dozen or so puppets.

"Now to wait for the digi-brats to show up and then we can have some fun!" Puppetmon laughed.

That same night

Tai was awake. Even though it wasn't his turn to be on watch he stayed awake, thinking of how to tell his friends about his change. The pain in his back from playing Kari's landing spot didn't help.

'If I tell them now they might not be so angry.' He thought. 'It's better then telling them when my head is exchanged for a skull.' He shuddered at that.

'This sucks.' Was his last thought before he finally fell asleep.

* * *

_Dream sequence_

_Ever had one of those dreams? No not that kind. The kind where there's two versions of you: one evil one and one good one. Both of them trying to take out the other in an epic battle.(1)_

_Tai's mind was currently hosting one of those battles._

_On one side of his mind was himself. The normal, goggle wearing, soccer playing teenager._

_On the other was his 'corrupted' version. The skinless, fleshless, bony version of said soccer playing teenager._

_The two of them currently glaring at each other, before the 'good' version of Tai suddenly lunged at the 'tainted' version._

_And so started an epic battle with the real Tai as the only spectator._

_And it wasn't as much epic as it was…weird._

_Tainted Tai had decided that a head but was in order. Normal Tai dodged said attack and kicked the bony version in the head._

_Causing his head to fall off…_

_Not that that stopped him or anything. Tainted Tai just fell to all four and aimed a missile at the distracted Tai._

At that moment the real Tai woke up and thought about how screwed up his mind was.

"Never eat fish before going to sleep…" Tai muttered before rolling over.

* * *

The day after that Tai barely even remembered what happened in his dreams and as most people would he just dismissed it as something irrelevant.

"Everyone ready to go?" Matt asked, though he still looked very tired, and he had the bane of all hair lovers: bed hair! Or in his case: bed fur.

Matt had done nearly everything to get it to look a bit presentable but it hadn't really worked.

"Sure…" Mimi yawned.

* * *

Soon the team was on the road once more, searching their way through Puppetmon's forest and hoping not to be found by any of its minions.

"So do we have any strategies?" Joe asked before sneezing, causing his glasses to fall of.

"Off course. As always we barge in, kill the bad guy and get the hell out of there." Tai said cheerfully. Their strategies usually did consist of those three steps.

"I mean." Joe started as he put his glasses back on. "A REAL strategy. You know like-

At that moment Joe was cut off as suddenly the ground underneath them started to move.

"What the hell!" Was the last thing Tai heard before he lost sight of Joe. The others weren't faring much better as they all seemed to stand on some kind of weird treadmill.

Tai quickly lost sight of everyone except Agumon.

"What just happened?" Agumon asked. "I have no i-

Just then Tai disappeared in a flash.

"Tai?" Agumon asked. "Great, just great…"

* * *

Tai reappeared in a different part of the forest, obviously far away from Agumon and his friends.

'Have they been separated from their digimon as well?' He thought. 'Who could have done this?' He continued his line of thought till one name popped up.

"Puppetmon."

"Right you are little digibrat!" A weird character stood in the shadows of a nearby tree. "You know what? I feel like playing a game!"

"I don't." Tai said angrily. "And tell me where my friends are!"

"Don't be so hasty! We're going to play a game first! Besides, you don't need them. I brought you a new friend!" Puppetmon laughed before disappearing from sight.

"The rules are simple! Survive long enough without getting tagged!" Puppetmon's laughter could be heard but it was impossible to pinpoint from where it came.

"Ready? Set! Run!"

At that point the trees beside Tai began to break down as something broke through them. Deciding not to hang around and find out whatever it was Tai took Puppetmon's advice and ran.

After what felt for hours, but were really only ten minutes, Tai stopped for a second in a small clearing. How could he have been so stupid!

He pulled out his digivice. With it he could easily find his friends and possibly Agumon.

He looked at the tiny screen and tried to figure out where the hell north was on the thing.

A bleep was suddenly heard and a small red dot was currently coming closer and closer to his location.

And then suddenly it was right behind him!

Tai spun around, hoping that whatever was coming his way was an ally. But when he did so there was nothing there…

He suddenly felt a presence behind him. He spun around again to see…

* * *

The others weren't faring much better. They to had been separated from their digimon and scattered across the forest. Luckily there were four airborne digihumans that quickly met up with each other in the air.

"Do you know what happened?" Kari asked as she did her best to hover in one place, a hard chore for someone who hadn't had her wings for more then 24 hours.

"It appears that Puppetmon used some kind of teleportation device on us to scatter and confuse us." Izzy said.

"So now what?" TK asked.

"We look for the others, I mean what else can we do?" Sora answered.

"Is it just me or do you guys feel like you're being watched?" Kari asked.

Out of the forest four shapes suddenly flew up to meet them.

* * *

"This sucks." Joe said as he sneezed again. "I'm all alone and my cold just won't stop."

"You're never alone Joe.." A voice said, scaring the crap out of Joe.

"W-W-Who's there?" Joe stuttered as he turned around to see a figure standing there. Joe opened his mouth to scream and.

"Who the hell are you?" Joe asked, knees shaking, tail twitching nervously.

"I am you Joe Kido." The figure stated. "But yet I am what you're not."

Joe glared at the mysterious figure. He did look like him. The whole serpentine look was the same. The only difference was that he stood up straight and had a confident look in his eyes. The same look that Joe wanted sometimes.

"I am you but without hesitation, without your known fears." Not-Joe continued. "All in all, I'm a better you then you'll ever be."

Joe fumed at this.

"Shut up!" Joe yelled. A fire burned within him, begging to be released. "You can't be me!" Joe yelled as the fire within him froze and turned to ice, which he blasted at his doppelganger, effectively freezing him.

"This is very weird." Joe said, poking the frozen figure, which fell over. Which then caused its head to break off.

Joe winced as that happened. It may have been a clone of him but it's still weird. Especially if you took a closer look at the figure and realised it was made of wood.

"Who on earth could do such a thing?" Joe asked as he picked up the frozen lizard-like head. 'And who would try such mind games, even though they weren't worth much.' (2)

"Puppetmon, off course…" Joe muttered. "I have to find the others." With that Joe dropped the head again and ran off.

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" Matt growled at his reflection.

"I am you. Or more precisely, what you could have been." The reflection smirked. "Could have been?" Matt was confused by those words.

"Indeed." Not-Matt said. "I am that of you that isn't held back by friends, family. And most certainly not that dishonest leader of yours." Matt flinched at that. So this was his 'cool guy' act, but then in the flesh.

Though Matt ignored his words, one thing made him wonder. "What do you mean, 'dishonest' leader?"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. Haven't you noticed that he's been acting strange lately? How he disappears? How he-"

He was cut off by a freezing blast coming from between the trees.

Joe stepped out and smirked, revealing his lizard-like teeth. "Two down…"

"Joe?" Matt asked suspiciously. "What did you just do?"

"I froze him." Joe smiled. "Serious, something's wrong here. See?" He pulled on the head of Not-Matt, which came off.

"I faced my own just a few minutes ago and then I heard you." Joe said as he threw the head at Matt.

Matt stared at it. "You do know that I could have taken care of it myself."

"Sure." Joe said, smirking on the inside because he got to be the hero for once. "Let's just go and find the rest."

Matt nodded. 'Damn, now I owe Joe one. And I still don't know what he was talking about. What are you hiding Tai?'

* * *

Meanwhile up in the air.

"Is it just me or do those people look familiar?" Sora asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "No kidding." Izzy muttered.

Normally the puppets would use the same lame mind games on these digidestined. But those only (if ever) worked if the target was alone.

So they decided for a full on attack.

Sora kicked her clone away once it came close enough, confused by the clunky movements and the lack of intelligence behind the attack.

"They don't seem very bright, do they?" Kari said as she easily dodged her clone. "This is an insult to our intelligence." Izzy muttered.

The puppets were quickly dispersed and the quartet sighed a bit. "What was the use of that? They were so weak." Sora said.

"Yeah. The only scary thing about them was that they looked just like us." TK added.

"Let's just find the others now, maybe they're in more trouble." Kari said and with that they took off.

* * *

"Damn digibrats." Puppetmon muttered in his toy room. "They destroyed nearly all of my friends!" He switched the channel again. "And they're tough, they weren't even fazed by my psychological warfare." Apparently Puppetmon had considered his talents in discouraging the enemy rather high.

"But there are still two left!" He laughed as he centred the cameras, hidden among the trees, on Tai. "This will be fun!"

* * *

Puppetmon is actually quite hard to write you know? It's like writing about a power obsessed four year old. But I hope you like my Digi-puppets as I call them. I didn't feel like doing the whole 'Matt leaves' arc, since I have no idea how to handle it. And yes I know they don't do much story wise for the others. But I plan to make them a great step in Tai's side of the story.

Reviews

Minwolf: Thank you and yes, Agumon is slowly turning into BlackWarGreymon, given the fact that so many people wanted Tai to turn into said digimon.

Martiny the one and only still: indeed and in this case: a small lack of inspiration and exams are the bane of every author.

Lord Pata: It's fun to hit Joe 'Hits Joe in the head with a baseball bat.' See? Nah I only hit because he's my favourite character.

Doodle-chan: the same, I love my big brother and all but sometimes he needs something heavy and possibly made of steel to land on him.

Super garurumon: not just yet 'evil laugh'

Depthmon: Thank you! And Mimi's form will be revealed soon and yes, they will get attacks but only one each, so TK only gets Magna Antidote (I know it's not an attack but meh), Joe gets the Ice Breath and Tai gets the missile. The others, well you'll just have to wait

Anime25: indeed, poor Tai and yes it'll be a Takari but only a slight one, they're still a bit to young.

GRX3m0m: thank you.

Hobblin'-Marcy-Bellamy: Mimi's a minor favourite of mine actually, coming right after Joe and Tai and don't worry: I wouldn't do that to Mimi (Though it would be funny, Mimi as a half cactus)

Takari4ever3012: I think the same. They should have done something like this in canon. But that's just my idea ;)

Shadow of a rose: Glad to meet you as well. I don't know why but it's just fun to torture Tai. I plan on torturing him just a bit more next chapter.

Courage sun: thank you, I try to stay creative and this just popped into my brain.

Beth: thanks, that really means a lot to me

Author notes

(1)Don't know if any of you ever had this kind of dream but I did once. My evil side won. Big time. Seriously, he crushed my good side

(2)To me it would be a slap in the face, to be confronted by someone that's just like you in every way, only better.

R&R people!


	8. Enemy Within

Ronald does not own digimon!

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 8

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" Tai asked the thing that stood in front of him. He called it a thing for one simple reason: the thing looked like him and since he was Tai the thing couldn't be him and there for was a thing.

Or something like that.

Not-Tai grinned.

"Answer me." Tai said, trying his best not to lose his temper, though actually he wanted to rip his clone apart for looking like him.

"What do I look like?" It asked.

"Me." Tai said.

"Exactly." Not-Tai said.

"So what?" Tai asked. He started to get annoyed by the clone.

"Do you really think they'll accept you?" Not-Tai suddenly asked.

The real Tai was a bit taken back by the question. He had been thinking about that question. He still wasn't sure if they would.

"I can give you the answer right now." Not-Tai said. "The answer is no. They'll never even want to come close to the equivalent of their worst nightmare."

"How do you know that that is happening to me?!" Tai yelled. No one, except Agumon and Gatomon knew about his change. So how on earth could some cheesy clone know it?

"I am you Tai." It said simply. "I know all your secrets, your fears. Everything."

"Shut up." Tai said with a harsh tone. "You don't know anything about me."

"That's where you're wrong. How can I not know everything about you? I'm a part of you."

Tai was getting a head ache from the clone's ranting.

"Just shut up will you?" Tai clenched his fist.

"Let's see…how about…no?" Not-Tai laughed in a way that was very unlike Tai.

That did it. "okay, if you won't shut up then I'll make you!" Tai took off his gloves and charged his clone. He used his left claws to tear through the skin of his clone.

Two parallel lines and one a bit further from the other two formed on Not-Tai's face. Tai's three claws easily cut through the weird flesh. To his surprise there was no blood flow. Just three red lines.

"What the hell?" Tai stopped in his tracks. He had at least suspected the thing to flinch. Heck he had hoped he would.

"Is that all you got?" Not-Tai asked before lifting his own hand and slashing it across Tai's face, leaving four lines on his face, going from the top left to the bottom right.

Tai fell back, clenching his face in pain. He was lucky that the clone hadn't grazed his eyes.

"I'll get you for that." Tai muttered.

With that Tai charged forward, deciding not to hold back. In doing so he released the beast within him…

His left arm began to expand. Growing thicker, longer and more powerful. Luckily for Tai it stopped growing before it became to heavy for him to move.

But Tai wasn't interested in that for the moment.

He struck down on his clone, only for it to disappear.

Tai looked around, vision turning red because of an anger he never before felt coursed through his veins.

Not-Tai flickered back into existence behind him. "Was that it?" Tai struck again with his huge arm. If he had concentrated a bit more he would have noticed that the three wounds on his clone had disappeared. But who on earth pays attention to details in the middle of battle?

Not-Tai wasn't really surprised by Tai's head-on attack. He decide to stay put. But he just barely blocked Tai's attack. "Getting better." He smirked only to be struck by a new attack. One that he hadn't seen coming. He had to toss his body to the left just to avoid it. He heard the sound of wood being pierced.

A tail had formed at the base of Tai's spine. Actually it looked more like Tai's spine had burst out of his body. The tip of it was sharp as a razor and had imbedded itself into the tree behind Not-Tai..

"Interesting." Not-Tai smirked.

Tai didn't respond. He just pulled his tail back out. It flailed around aimlessly for a second, before launching itself at Not-Tai. Tai aimed to impale his clone on it.

"And to think that you were trying to hang on to your humanity." Not-Tai chuckled as he dodged again.

Tai's eyes went wide.

He backed away from Not-Tai. 'No-no-no-no' He thought. 'This can't be happening.' He only just realised that there was a tail sticking out of his spine.

"What's the matter Jack?(1)" His clone mocked him. This pulled Tai out of his self pity, for the moment.

"Shut up!" Tai yelled/roared as he used his tail as a weapon again. He jabbed it towards Not-Tai. He struck cold hard wood.

He had pierced the clone right through the heart. Or at least where his heart would have been, if he weren't a wooden puppet.

Immediately Tai fell to his knees, cursing himself for allowing this to happen.

* * *

"So, did everyone face off a clone or what?" Matt asked once they were all together again.

Well almost all of them.

Three of their members were still missing.

"Yup, we faced four of them at once." Sora said. "But they weren't very smart."

"The same here." Joe said as he held up the wooden head of his clone. "He tried some real crappy mind game on me."

"Joe get rid of that! It creeps me out." Sora said.

"Fine." Joe said as he threw the head away, only to hit Gomamon on the head with it. "Ouch! Joe! Watch where you aim that wooden head of yours." The miniature seal scoffed before throwing the head even further away.

"Can we get down to business now?" Agumon decided to speak up. "We're still missing Tai, Mimi and Palmon. I'd rather not leave them in this forest." Agumon started to tap his foot in annoyance.

"Right." Matt said. "We'd better start looking for them. Maybe I can sniff them out."

"No need for that." A voice said.

A figure came from behind one of the trees.

"Tai!" Agumon ran up to him and grabbed hold of his leg. "So glad you're okay."

"You don't have to worry about me Agumon." Tai grinned. "It's not like there's anything dangerous in these woods."

"This coming from the man with the cut up face." Matt smirked, all worry about Tai gone again, as if it never was.

"Yeah, had a little run in with a clone." Tai said. "Weird thing though. Thought he was better then me."

"Come on Tai, let me heal those wounds." TK said as his hands glowed. "No need kiddo, just a minor scratch."

"Let me do it anyway. I need to practice anyway." TK smiled. Tai sighed and bend down a bit to eye height with his rival's brother.

TK quickly placed his hands on the wounds.

"That's odd…"

"What?" Kari asked.

"I can't heal these wounds." TK said as he took his hands off of Tai's face. "It's like they're not even there."

"What do you mean by that?" Kari asked, confused by her friends statement.

"Don't know." TK admitted.

"Maybe because they're already scars?" Tai tried.

"That's possible. If a wound scars means that it has already healed." Joe said. 'But it's impossible for a wound to form scar tissue so quickly.' He added in his own mind. He decided not to air his thoughts.

"Anyway, I noticed that there are still two members missing? Anyone seen them?" Tai asked, trying to steer away from the current topic.

"No, she and Palmon are the only ones missing." Sora said. "I hope they're okay."

* * *

Meanwhile in an other part of the forest.

"You know, you look like me, talk like me and act like me but I know you're not me." Mimi stated to her clone.

"How can you be so sure?" Not-Mimi asked.

"Easily. That dress you're wearing. It clashes horribly with your hair. And don't even get me started about your nails. I haven't seen such bad nails since I met Ogremon." Mimi ranted.

Not-Mimi stared at her nails while the real Mimi started talking about her split ends.

"Poison ivy!" A cry was heard from the forest as eight purple vines burst out from between the trees, grabbed Not-Mimi and tossed her towards the horizon, the trade-mark star forming once she was out of sight.

"Palmon!" Said digimon walked out from between the trees. "You saved me! But how did you know which was the real one? I mean it was obvious that she was the fake one, with the bad nails and such."

Palmon sweatdropped for a second.

"Oh it doesn't really matter anyway. Come on, let's go and look for the others." Mimi said before heading off into the forest.

Palmon continued to sweatdrop until she noticed Mimi was gone. "Mimi! Wait for me!"

* * *

Meanwhile with the other digidestined.

"Is that what I think it is?" Joe asked nervously.

"I guess so. Puppetmon's base." Matt said as he took in the sight of the brown mansion.

"Can't we go that way to find Mimi?" Joe asked as he pointed his tail away from the house. "We've had some bad experiences with mansions before."

"The chances are that Puppetmon captured Mimi. She hasn't changed yet and if she was separated from Palmon there was no way she could have fought off her clone." Tai said.

"You're right about that." Matt admitted. 'But how did you escape then?' Matt thought.

"I say we sneak in and see if she's in there. Puppetmon is probably still out, trying to find us, to 'play' some more." Tai said as he motioned the group to follow him as he walked towards the mansion.

"Is it just me or does Tai seem a bit off somehow?" Izzy asked the others once Tai was out of hearing distance.

"Not really, seems like our same fearless leader we always had." Joe said that as if it was a bad thing.

"Then it's just me probably." Izzy shrugged, which was a very weird sight, coming from an insect with four arms.

Soon they arrived at the doors of the mansion.

"So…how do we get in?" Joe asked as he looked at the doors. "I doubt anyone has the keys."

"We could try knocking." TK proposed.

"Like that'll work." Joe said. "I don't think that Puppetmon is stupid enough for that." He illustrated his point by knocking on the massive doors.

"See?" Joe said, back turned to the doors, which creaked open. Joe turned around to see that the doors had opened.

"Damn." He muttered.

Matt said nothing and just headed in, only to be stopped by Sora. "How do we know that it's safe?"

"I'm sure that it's safe. Puppetmon would never expect us to attack him in is own house." Tai said before heading in.

"If you say so." Sora sighed, not entirely comfortable with the whole thing.

"What do you think about this Gabumon?" Agumon asked the dog-like lizard as they followed the 'humans' into the house.

"I don't know for sure but something smells very fishy and it's not just Puppetmon's base." He responded as they entered, at which point the doors slammed shut behind them.

"We're trapped! There's no way out! There is NO way out!" Joe panicked. (AN: sorry just had to do that! )

"Joe calm down." Izzy said. "It was just the wind." Izzy said, though more for himself then for Joe. He pushed away the fact that he knew that the forest was void of any wind.

"Right, sorry about that." With that Joe turned around and nearly ran into a digimon that had apparently materialised out of nowhere while he was freaking out.

"Are you the guests?" The creature asked. To describe it simply: it looked kinda like Ogremon, only difference being the loincloth and club being replaced by a tuxedo and a cane.

Everyone stared at the digimon.

"Now what?" Matt whispered to Tai. "No clue." Tai answered back.

"Eh yes, I suppose." Sora said nervously.

"Follow me." 'Jeeves' said, motioning them to follow him.

The digidestined followed him, though cautiously. They'd rather not end up in trap of sorts.

Matt, however, stopped and decided to speak up. "How do we know we can trust you? This is Puppetmon's base, right?"

"Well actually no." Jeeves turned around as he said that, causing a few members of the team to clench their fists/claws/fins. "This is master Puppetmon's summer cottage. He barely comes here."

"Then why did you call us his 'guests'," Tai asked.

"Master Puppetmon has a rather twisted sense of honour." Jeeves bared his fangs a bit, indicating his hate for his master. "He doesn't like it when his playmates are to tired to struggle." That made some of the digi-humans and digimon flinch. "There for he offers you one night here to rest up."

"What do you think about this Izzy?" Tentomon whispered to his fellow insect. "I don't know. It seems to stupid, even for Puppetmon and I doubt he's capable of putting up a decent trap, I mean look at his previous attempts." He said, referring to the attempt at separating and confusing them.

"Good point." Tentomon admitted. "Still I don't trust it all."

"Relax, we'll just keep watch at night as we always do." Tai pitched in.

They followed Jeeves into a large dining room, table all set.

"Master Puppetmon requested me to prepare your dinner." Jeeves said. "I'll take my leave now."

With that he just melted into the shadows.

"What a weird character." Patamon said. "It appears that Puppetmon's own servants don't really like him." Gatomon added.

"Enough about him, what about the food?" Gomamon asked.

"Well…" Joe looked at the huge table, filled with all the food you could imagine. "…It would be terrible to waste all of this stuff." Joe quickly sat down with Gomamon next to him. "Dig in!"

"You sure it's safe?" Sora asked as she sat down next to Joe. "No clue but it sure tastes great." The lizard man said as he took a bite out of a chicken wing.

"What do you think Biyomon?" The pink bird thought for a second, before grabbing an ear of corn and biting into it.

"Not bad really." She said as she took another bite out of it.

"You've been awfully quiet today Kari." TK stated as he sat down next to her, which was rather hard. The fact being that his wings tended to collide with hers.

"I don't know what, but there is something wrong with Tai." She said.

"What do you mean?" TK said as he looked at Tai, who was currently launching peas at Matt, who in return growled at him. "He seems like the same Tai to me."

"I know but…" Kari pulled him closer and whispered in his ear. "Yesterday, I sensed something from Tai. The same happened when I landed on him a while later."

TK nodded, inwardly smirking.

"It may sound weird but it was something dark." TK's eyes shot open at the mention of that word. The events that had transpired lately had made him grow hate for that word.

"I meant dark and not evil." Kari quickly added. "But the point is that I didn't sense that anymore today." She decide not to add her real thought to that statement. 'Instead there _was _something evil.'

TK looked a bit confused. "Weird, so one day you sense it and the other day it's gone." He struck a thinking pose. "Maybe he had something bad to eat yesterday." TK said as that was the only thing he could think off right now.

Kari sweatdropped. "Could be."

* * *

"Okay, now that we all have had enough to eat." He motioned to Joe and Gomamon, who were currently lying ON the table, surrounded by empty plates, groaning something about 'I can't believe we ate the whole thing'. "We can start looking for Mimi. I'm pretty sure she's here somewhere." Tai said with a confident look on his face.

"We'd better split up. Me, Agumon, Sora and Biyomon will look in the basement. Matt, Gabumon, Izzy and Tentomon will look on the first floor and Joe, Gomamon, TK, Patamon, Kari and Gatomon will look on the second floor."

Everyone nodded at this.

* * *

"This place is scary." TK said as they explored the second floor. While the dining room looked rather expensive and spectacular, this floor of the house looked crummy.

"Don't worry TK, I'll protect you." Joe said, trying to sound brave. "But Joe, who will protect you?" Gomamon asked. 'Good point' Joe thought.

TK opened a door and entered it with Patamon quickly following.

"Okay scratch that. THIS is scary." TK said as Joe and Kari entered.

They had entered a rather large room, around the size of a few standard classrooms. But it wasn't the size that was scary. It was the piles upon piles of broken toys that were scattered around the room.

"Creepy." Joe whispered, as if he would wake up the toys if he spoke louder. "Indeed." Gomamon whispered back.

Kari picked up a bear that had most of its stuffing removed. "Poor thing." She said as she put it down again.

"Kari. Come and take a look at this." Gatomon's voice, while not loud, echoed through the room.

The five digital creatures followed the voice and ended up looking at the only thing that wasn't damaged in the entire room.

A painting that hung on the wall. A beautiful wooden frame surrounded a picture of an angel, basking in a ray of light.

"Anyone else having a déjà vu?" Joe asked as three of their search party nodded.

"Okay!" Joe suddenly exclaimed. "Mimi is obvious not here so let's look somewhere else!" He turned around to walk back to where they came in.

"Eep." Joe said as the broken and lifeless toys had sprung into action and were slowly coming closer.

"This is not good." Gatomon said as she clawed at a toy robot.

Meanwhile the painting behind them had begun to take on a very twisted form. The frame turned pitch black, while a single eye opened in the middle of the top end. The painting itself turned red and multiple tentacles shot out, wrapping themselves around the six heroes.

"You know." Patamon said as he struggled to get out of the vicelike grip. "This is even worse."

Kari screamed as the tentacles withdrew into the canvas taking the tiny group with them.

* * *

Meanwhile outside of the cottage, deep in the forest.

A figure was seen running through the darkness. Not running from friend or foe.

Running from himself, in the hope that everything that happened was just a bad dream.

* * *

"Oh man this is even more fun then I thought!" Puppetmon was doing the weird dance again. He continued to do so for a while before finally stopping and looking at his puppet collection again. He laughed some more and grabbed the remote for his TV-set.

He switched the channel to the forest where a pile of bones was lying on the ground.

"Especially that one!" He laughed. It was a good idea to send out two puppets to Tai. Not only did he break the courage child, he also had an insider in the team and they didn't even realise it! good times, good times.

* * *

Sorry I was so late people! I was a bit busy with: My rapport card, I wasn't able to focus on my stories for a week until I got it (67 btw I rule!) and there was the one thing I was waiting for all year: GRASPOP!! A metal festival of epic proportions.

I hope you enjoyed this extra longer chapter. And I need a bit of help: Does anyone know of a good nightmare? I have two while I need three. Thank you!

**Auther notes**  
(1) Jack skelington from the Nightmare before Christmas.

**reviews **

Depthmon: thanks and that happens sometimes you know. And keep on updating that fic! Serious, my sides were splitting at moments.

doodle-chan: Sorry! And sorry again but I was running low on inspiration for a while. But it's back!

Super garurumon: he has, though it's still rather stupid but then again, stupid enough to work…

Martiny the one and only still: That 'points to fic' and it'll get worse for Tai ;)

GRX3m0m: I try to

Frozen Triplets: he probably will. Heck he might be the only that will. I haven't really thought so far. And I hope this chapter contained enough Gomamon. If not I'll try some more next chapter.

Beth: wow two reviews and cool dream by the way. I've had some strange ones in my life, including one where me, some guy I know and a chicken climb the K2. Very weird and you're making me blush you know. I don't think I'm that good.

Takari4ever3012: He's still a good guy. Just a little bit more murderous. That's a good thing, right? And the others, well I'm not going to tell you yet.

anime25: the same, i just didn't know how to write that part. But I'm adding another twist to the story.

Bye peoples!


	9. Scary Stuff

Ronald doesn't own digimon! Oh and by the way! There are some terrible, terrible things in this chapter.

They were so terrible that they could shatter a person's mind! So I marked them first.

* * *

Beyond humanity

chapter 9

"This place is boring." Matt stated as the entered the fifth room on the first floor. "I'm starting to doubt that Mimi is even here."

"Who knows?" Izzy said as he scanned the room. "Maybe she's here, maybe she's not."

Matt decided not to respond to that.

Eventually they came to a door leading into a hallway.

"Great, even more doors." Matt said. The hall seemed to be never ending.

"Don't think of them as doors but as more chances to find Mimi." Gabumon smiled.

"And at least there's art here. Most other walls were kind of bare." Izzy said as he looked at one of the paintings between two doors. "The creation of Puppetmon." He read of a card underneath it. He looked up to see Puppetmon lying on some rock with his index finger touching that of another, more ancient looking Puppetmon.(1)

"Okay…" Izzy sweatdropped as he moved on to the next one. This was a parody of The Scream with Puppetmon in the place of the screaming figure.

"Okay that's it." Izzy held his hands up. "I'm getting out of here." He walked up to a door and pushed it open.

"This guy does have a weird taste in art." Tentomon said as he buzzed by before following Izzy into the newly opened room.

"Indeed." Izzy sighed. He looked around in the room he had just entered. There was not much in the room, except for one thing in the middle of the room: a huge frame, supported by four stubby legs. It looked like one push was enough to make it fall to the ground, possibly destroying it in the process.

"Hey Matt, check this out." Izzy said as he stepped in front of it, expecting to see another awful parody of real world art.

Matt stepped up to it. "What the hell?"

The canvas was in one word: disturbing.

A horrible fusion of man and bone was seen on it, surrounded by things that seemed an awful lot like bodies.

"Creepy." Gabumon said as he looked at the painting. He wanted to look away but wasn't able to.

"Is it just me or does that thing look familiar?" Matt asked in a hoarse voice.

"What do you mea…" Izzy fell silent as he saw what Matt meant. A pair of broken goggles was strapped to the creature's head and the hair that it still had looked an awful lot like that of a certain idiot.

"You can't be serious…" Tentomon said.

"What does this mean?" Matt asked himself. "We should find Tai and tell him about this." Gabumon said as he finally managed to pull his eyes from the painting.

No sooner as he did so the painting sprung to live. Not the drawing but the painting itself.

Four tentacles burst from the canvas and snaked towards the four digital creatures.

"What the hell?" Matt jumped back a distance that no normal man could.

"Super shocker!" Tentomon yelled before firing a ray of electrical energy towards painting. It just fizzled upon contact.

Matt felt his own claws burn as he dodged the tentacle aiming for him. "Take this!" He slashed his claws at the tentacle. To his and his companions' surprise eight red lines were launched from his fingertips, cutting through the tentacles and even make a small cut into the painting.

The picture hissed and more tentacles shot out, intend on fulfilling its goal.

Soon the two digimon and two digital humans were wrapped up in bloodred tentacles. Matt bit down on his confines but couldn't prevent himself from being pulled into the painting.

The three others followed quickly.

The room was quiet again and it looked as if no one had ever been there.

* * *

Tai was currently leading the way through the basement. Actually dungeon was a better word, cause most basements didn't contain torture devices.

"Let's just hope that Mimi isn't down here." Sora said as they passed an iron maiden.

"Oh relax Sora. I'm sure she's fine." Tai said with a broad smile.

Tai eventually led them towards some sort of arena, deep underneath the ground.

"What is this?" Agumon asked.

"This is were you die." Tai said.

"Ok okay then… What??" Agumon exclaimed.

"Tai, are you okay?" Sora asked, backing away from Tai.

Tai, well let's call him Not-Tai from now on, turned around, revealing blood red eyes.

"Oh crap." Agumon said.

* * *

"Where are we?" Gabumon asked. "No idea. We were with the painting and then it 'ate' us." Matt answered. Izzy nodded. "Tentomon, what do you think?"

"Well there's one theory I have but it's very illogical." Tentomon buzzed by through the darkness.

"What?" Matt almost demanded. "Well, that painting could have been a digimon. An Otoroshimon.(2)"

"Why is that illogical?" Izzy asked. "Well, they are supposed to be extinct. Destroyed by the sovereigns themselves."

"Whoa." Gabumon said.

"Why were they destroyed?" Matt asked as his feet suddenly touched the ground again.

"Because they became to dangerous. They can take you into their own nightmare world." Tentomon answered. "Very lethal."

Just as he said that, the darkness surrounding them dissipated, revealing a hallway. Doors upon doors were visible, though no end or beginning. "Do all these Otoroshimon look like huge hallways on the inside?" Gabumon asked.

"No." Tentomon answered. "All of them had a different structure, a different nightmare."

"How do you know so much about them anyway?" Matt asked.

"My uncle was one." Tentomon stated. The rest sweatdropped and refused to respond to that statement.

"So how do we get out of here?" Izzy asked as he examined the walls of the sewer.

"Oh that's easy. You just have to find the manifestation of Otoroshimon's mind and whack it into submission." Tentomon said.

"And where do we find this 'manifestation'?" Matt asked.

"No clue." Tentomon said. "It can be anything. But I di know that it's supposed to be something terrible."

* * *

"This is creepy." Joe said as he walked around through the building. He was sure he had been here before. Actually it looked kind of like his school but then with less teachers and more bloodthirsty thingies.

"This is just like that creepy videogame that Matt likes.(3)" TK said as he pointed at the burned walls.

"I'm scared." Kari shivered. 'So am I.' TK thought. 'But I have to be brave, for Kari and Patamon.'

"Aaaaaahhh!"

'And Joe.' TK quickly added.

"What is it this time Joe?" Gomamon sighed. "Huge cockroach!" Joe pointed at the way to big insect, which was about the size of a big rat.

"Jeesh Joe, it's just a bug." Gomamon pulled a flyswatter out of nowhere and began hitting the roach. "Bad roach! Don't you scare Joe like that!"

The insect knew when he was beat and quickly scurried away.

"There we go." Gomamon clapped his paws together. "You know they're just insects Joe." Gomamon looked up at his friend. "No matter how big they are."

* * *

In an other Oroshimon two bugs sneezed at the same time.

"Okay, standing around here won't do us any good. Let's just start looking for whatever it is we need to destroy." Izzy said before heading towards a random door.

**Warning: shocking images ahead. Read on your own risk.**

The door creaked open, revealing a wrestling arena, in the middle of a courtyard of sorts. What was even more odd was the fact that they were suddenly outside, in a city or maybe a village.

"What the hell?" Matt said as he jumped into the ring. "Do we need to defeat a bunch of sweaty guys or something?" He was not looking forward to that. Not in the slightest.

"Ha-ha-ha!" Laughter was heard from on top of a building near the wrestling ring.

"Huh?" Matt looked up to see a silhouette of a huge man standing there, the only light coming from the full moon.

The man struck a pose. "When the forces of darkness descend, in the name of justice these fist! In the name of truth these muscles! In the name of honour this blood!"

A huge man wearing a black and red wrestler's outfit with a silver skull as beltbuckle, jumped into the ring. He had blond hair and wore a mask in the shape of a butterfly, hiding his face from his enemies.

"Champion of truth and justice: Grand Pappilon! Ready to fight all evildoers!" At this point he lifted up a timber, to serve as a bludgeon. "If you think you can withstand the unfettered fury of my rippling muscles, then come on!"

Needless to say Matt was scared out of his mind. Probably traumatized as well.

"Evacuate! Digimon and Digi-humans first!" With that Matt jumped out of the ring, ran back to the door and disappeared out of sight.

Gabumon, Tentomon and Izzy were still standing there, a sweat drop hanging from their heads. "Okay, time to go." Izzy said and followed Matt's lead, as did the two digimon.

"Ha ha! Justice has prevailed once more!" Grand Pappilon yelled out, before melting away into darkness. (4)

Oroshimon had some more ideas for his victims. Much more terrible ones!

**Okay, the scary bit is over.**

"Never again!" Matt yelled, still hysterical. "Never must this door be opened again!"

Izzy sighed. The cool guys always snapped first.

He walked over to Matt and slapped him. "Get a grip man!"

Matt's hysteria stopped. "Thanks Izzy, don't know what came over me. But it was just so awful."

"I told you this place was terrible." Tentomon said as he buzzed by.

"I know Matt, I was there, remember?" Izzy said. Before choosing a different door.

"Wait! What if there's something even worse behind that door?" Matt asked, a slight tone of fear evident in his voice.

Izzy shrugged. "We have to find the manifestation, else we're stuck here forever."

* * *

"Eh Gomamon?" Joe started as they walked through the burned hallways. "Yeah Joe?"

"You know how you said that no matter how big they were, they were still mere insects?"

"Yeah." Gomamon responded.

"What about a whole bunch of huge insects?" Joe asked. "Huh?" Gomamon looked confused.

Joe pointed behind them, revealing that the first roach had invited his relatives. All six hundred of them.

"Well Joe, in a case like this I say: RUN!" Gomamon jumped on top of Joe's tail as he, Kari and TK ran like hell, with Patamon and Gatomon close behind them.

The six of them ran but quickly got to a dead end.

Just when Joe wanted to start panicking again he remembered something.

He took a deep breath and exhaled blue rays of ice at his opponents, which quickly froze up. All 601 roaches were trapped in a huge block of ice.

"Good thinking Joe!" Gomamon complimented. "But couldn't you have done that a bit earlier, you know with the first one."

"Maybe, but I forgot I even had these powers." Joe held his hand to his head.

TK sweatdropped. 'Only someone like Joe could actually forget that he breathes ice.'

Kari looked at the frozen bugs. "I feel a bit sorry for them actually."

"They were chasing us, remember?" Gatomon said as she glared at the frozen roaches.

"Yeah, but still…"

* * *

Meanwhile outside the mansion, deep within the forest.

Tai had finally managed to get a hold of himself. So what if he had a tail? He could still live normal, right? Okay, so his arm was twice as large as before. Big deal. He could…

Tai sighed. He didn't want any of this.

'The others must be worried sick. Especially Kari and Agumon.' He thought as he pulled himself to his feet.

'I need to find shelter. It looks like rain tonight.'

As always he was right about stuff like that. Five minutes hadn't passed before rain began to fall from the heavens.

He was lucky actually. He quickly found a cave. Paying no heed to what may live in there he ran in.

"At least it's dry in here." He said as he looked into the dark cave.

"Who's there?" A voice answered, making Tai's heart (or what was left of it) stop.

* * *

Disturbing, wasn't it? I borrowed from a few games, a movie and other stuff. Hope you like it. And everyone thanks for the nightmares! I plan on using one or two of them next chapter.

And to Depthmon: that's a though one. I like the first best for it's humor and the third one for the music and the 'UP is DOWN' scene. so it's a tie between those two.

**Author notes!**

(1) the creation of Adam, one of the most known paintings. You know the one with the two guys touching hands (just barely)

(2) Anyone who played Shadow Hearts should know this name. It's a demonic painting, painted by some cheapskate using his own hair as a brush and his blood as paint. I based Oroshimon off of it.

(3) who guesses this wins a super cookie ( or a one-shot, you can chose)!

(4) I kinda borrowed this from Shadow Hearts as well. I was thinking about the scariest thing that I saw in the last few days. This was one of them. I don't own Shadow hearts! BTW if you want to see the real scene, and I advise you to do so as it's hilarious, just enter 'Grand Papillon the bandit' on Youtube.

R&R peoples! Oh and before i forget: 'Throws Doodle-chan a cookie.'


	10. New Powers

Ronald still doesn't own digimon. But I do own this! 'holds out an apple'

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 10

Joe and Gomamon were currently in another scary/crazy room.

"You know, this place keeps getting creepier and creepier." Joe said as he looked up. "I mean, chairs and desks aren't supposed to be on the ceiling, right?"

"Well Joe, you're right about that." Gomamon said, rolling his eyes in the process.

"That's what I thought. I mean…" Joe stopped talking around that point when he figured that he and Gomamon were all alone.

Kari, TK and their digimon were gone.

"Tai and Matt are going to kill me."

"It was nice knowing ya!" Gomamon piped up. "The same, now let's get looking before I end up as Unagi sushi." (If I remember correctly that's eel sushi.)

"Let's hope you don't taste great with rice." Gomamon winked, which scared the hell out of Joe.

They quickly exited through the door they came in, which was a bit hard, seeing the fact that the classroom was upside down.

Joe had to lift Gomamon up to get him past the frame.

Once outside the room the world turned back to normal. Or as normal as this world could be.

"Let's see." Joe said as he thought about where he could have left the two kids.

"There was the room with the scary twins that told us to come play with them... for ever… and ever." He pointed at the door to the left. "That's the one with the melting walls." He pointed to a blood red door.

"What was that one again?" Joe said to himself as he looked at the door right ahead of him.

"The one with that creepy girl that crawled out of the TV." Gomamon helped.

"Oh right."

It was weird. The school-like building had quickly traded places for a hallway like structure. The school was still there though, but it was as if it was just a small part of something greater.

"But where did we see them last?" Joe asked himself again.

"No idea."

* * *

Meanwhile with Izzy and Matt.

"Promise me Izzy, that we'll never, ever talk about that again." Matt was currently standing before a door, pushing against it to keep it closed. From within the room sounds were heard. Something along the lines of this.

"Yosh, your flames of youth are burning brightly!" (Who knows who this is?)

Matt pulled a hammer, nails and a few wooden boards out of nowhere and nailed the door shut.

"Okay…" Izzy started. "Moving on to the next one."

Matt cringed as he said that. The strain was becoming to much for his mind to handle.

"Come on Matt, you can do it." Gabumon reassured him. "I know you can."

Matt just nodded weakly.

Gabumon opened the next door while Matt gathered up any courage he had left.

* * *

"Tai, is that you?" Mimi asked. She had arrived in this damn cave an hour or so ago. It was freezing in there, since she had no way of making fire. But it did protect her and Palmon from the elements.

Around this time Tai was thinking something among the lines of 'Oh crap.' It was all over. There was no way he'd be able to hide his new arm, much less his tail.

Mimi squinted her eyes, trying to use what little moonlight there was to make out who the new comer was. But all she saw was a huge hairdo. And a tail.

"Yeah it's me Mimi." Tai sighed. "So you started to change as well? Damn, now I'm the only human left." Mimi said with a cheerful tone in her voice. "So what do you look like?"

"Mimi, please don't be scared of me. Please…" Tai said.

"Scared? Why should I be-

She stopped talking at that moment, as Tai stepped into the moonlight, revealing to her what he was becoming.

"Oh dear." Palmon suddenly said.

"So this is why you asked me that question at the beach, right?" Mimi said, unable to pull her eyes away from Tai's milk white skeletal arm.

Tai nodded weakly, waiting for Mimi reaction.

It wasn't really what he was expecting.

Mimi threw herself at him and did an attempt to crush his bones with a hug.

"Mimi?" Tai asked, looking at her cinnamon coloured hair.

"You poor thing." Mimi said as she let go off him again. "You know that you're skin over bone?" She joked as she felt how skinny he was.

Tai let out a chuckle. At least one of the humans wasn't afraid of him.

* * *

In another place one of the humans actually was afraid off him. Or more precise: his clone.

"What's the matter Sora? Scared of little old Tai?" The clone mocked. But Sora wasn't scared of him. No, she was just shocked that someone was able to infiltrate their group so easily.

"It doesn't matter. Lord Puppetmon ordered me to kill you and kill you I shall do." The puppet said casually, as if he was discussing a soccer match with her.

"I'd like to see you try." Sora said, eyes flaring as a flame ignited in her left hand. "Ah, so the birdy has claws as well?" Not-Tai mocked again. "To bad it won't work on me."

With that said his chest burst open, revealing wooden gears on the inside and a nifty build-in bazooka.

"Wow, didn't see that coming!" Biyomon said as she scrambled to get out of the way of the weapon.

A small projectile, about the size of a tennis ball, was fired at Sora. Agumon pushed her out of the way and the flames on her hands died out.

"He's mine." Agumon growled as the shell hit the wall behind them and exploded. "No one impersonates my best friend!" Agumon started to glow a deep silver colour as he forced his energy through his body.

Not-Tai should realize by now that he was screwed.

Back with Mimi, Palmon and Tai.

"Aahh!" Tai fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain. His digivice was screaming as he felt the change being forced upon him again but it had never hurt as much before.

"Are you okay?" Mimi asked. "No, off course you're not okay but…" She had absolutely no idea what to do right now. Where was Joe when you needed him?

_Flash_

_We see Joe and Gomamon running from a whole bunch of killer frogs. Yes, that's what it says. You red it correctly._

_Flash_

Tai felt his skin dissolving on his head, exposing the bone underneath it. This was the part that he feared the most, the loss of his face.

He wasn't obsessed with his looks or anything but people tended to recognize people by their face, not their skull.

Tai would have screamed more if it weren't for two arms wrapping around him again.

Mimi held him close for two reasons. One, she hoped that the gesture might take his mind of the changes that his body underwent. Two, this way she stayed out of reach of his tail, that was currently flailing around aimlessly. She'd rather not get skewered on it.

The pain stopped again. Tai was afraid. He didn't want to see what had happened to his face.

"Mimi? His voice sounded raspy from his screams. "How…how bad is it?"

Mimi looked up. For some reason Tai was standing higher then she was now. She figured that he must have grown a bit, like Joe, Matt, Sora and Izzy did.

She saw his face. She then tried to look away but found that she couldn't tear her eyes from the sight.

Tai's head was a full skull now. With hair.

Around that point Mimi fainted.

* * *

Back with Izzy and Matt.

"Pitiful and puny humans! I will crush you now!" This time Matt, Izzy and their digimon chose the right door.

No spandex-clad wrestlers behind this one, no this was a true monster!

It was an old man holding a paint brush…

"How you going to that?" Izzy asked.

"I have no idea. Yet!" The old man yelled back. He didn't really seem like a major threat. Unless you call that old grey robe he was wearing a threat to fashion.

Then said man pulled out a jar of ink and a scroll. He began to draw something on it.

"What is he doing?" Matt asked. "He's drawing something." Tentomon said. "That's proof that he's the big cheese here. Everything we saw here was Otoroshimon's creation. So we need to stop him before…"

A black and red Chinese dragon suddenly burst from the paper the old man was holding.

"That happens…" Tentomon continued his sentence.

"Less talk, more battle!" Gabumon yelled out as he dodged a swipe of the dragons claws.

"**Gabumon warp digivolves to… MetalGarurumon!"**

"Oh right…** Tentomon digivolves to…Kabuterimon!"**

"**Kabuterimon digivolves to MegaKabuterimon**!"

The light quickly faded, revealing the huge beetle that was MegaKabuterimon and MetalGarurumon standing next to their partners.

"Izzy! You take care of the dragon!" Izzy nodded before flying off towards the dragon, with MegaKabuterimon behind him.

And so an awesome battle between insect and reptile began.

MegaKabuterimon did his signature move, in a hope to end this battle quickly. To bad for him was the fact that he was rather slow and the dragon agile.

The serpent easily dodged it and send the beetle flying with a whack of his thin yet strong tail.

MegaKabuterimon growled and launched another attack. "Horn Buster!" He yelled put before launching himself towards his target.

Again the dragon dodged and this time he latched onto MegaKabuterimon's left side, somewhere between his left arms. This was actually the part where the ultimate digimon was waiting for.

He grabbed the head of the dragon, that was still trying to sink its teeth into his flesh, with one arm and struck it with his free arms.

Soon enough the dragon let go and slumped to the shadowy floor.

"Who da man?" MegaKabuterimon started. "I'm da…

He was cut short as the dragon rose up again and knocked him down. Izzy, who was currently still flying around, saw this happening. He was sure that his digimon partner had defeated the dragon, yet it stood up again.

Around that time Izzy noticed the scroll the old man had been drawing with. It was glowing and it was lying directly underneath him. Izzy buzzed off to pick it up.

He shrugged as he looked at it. "Hope this works." He tore the paper in two.

The dragon just turned back to the ink it was created from.

"I totally owned him." MegaKabuterimon said as he wiped the ink away.

"Sure you did." Izzy said, rolling his eyes, which was a very weird thing to see.

Meanwhile MetalGarurumon and Matt were facing the old man, who had drawn a wrestling ring.

Matt jumped into it, praying to whatever god there was listening that Grand Papillon wouldn't appear and smite him with his mighty muscles of justice.

"So you think you can beat me?" A voice sounded from one corner of the ring. The old man stood there, his face covered by shadows that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Off course we can old man!" Matt yelled at him.

"Old man? I am no mere old man…" The man stepped out of the shadows.

"I am the GREAT QUESTION!"

Matt's jaw fell to the ground. The man now wore a weird mask with a question mark sticking out of it.

Matt picked his jaw up again. "Okay, that's it. You're going down!" With that Matt charged the old man, who easily dodged him and his attacks.

"You have much to learn." Great question said and punched Matt in the stomach, sending him flying against one of the poles in the corner.

Matt quickly scrambled to his feet and attacked again, only this time he slashed his hands forward, sending eight red blades flying towards his opponent.

Grand Question didn't see this coming and barely dodged the attack. It did, however, cut his left shoulder.

"Not bad! But is your soul the soul of a warrior?!" Great Question asked.

"I don't care about that! I just want to get put of here and find my little brother!" With that said Matt launched another barrage off animal-like attacks on the old man. He didn't bother to dodge them for some reason.

Great Question was send flying and landed hard on the ground outside of the ring.

"You did it!" MetalGarurumon yelled out, waving a little flag with Matt's head on it. To this day no one knows where he got it.

"Where the hell were you?" Matt asked, trying to rebuild his cool guy attitude. "Getting popcorn." MetalGarurumon answered. Matt had a 'tick' above his eye as he said that.

"Anyway, since you defeated the manifestation of Otorochimon we're free to go." Izzy said, before another fight could break loose.

"Yes, and I'll let you out soon." The old man had gotten back on his feet and now stood next to Matt.

"Aah!" Matt had thought he was down and out but there he stood again.

"Before you go, I want you to take this." The old man, also known as Otoroshimon, took off the mask.

He held it out to Matt. "Take it. It's yours. YOU are the Great Question now."

"Eh…" Matt didn't know what to say. "Just take it so we can get out of here." Izzy whispered.

"Thanks, I guess." Matt said as he took the mask.

"Use its power to protect your loved ones." Otoroshimon said. Matt just stared at him and then at the mask.

"Not that I'm complaining but why aren't you trying to destroy us?" Gabumon, who just dedigivolved, asked. "Aren't you working for Puppetmon?"

"Not really. He just thinks that but I don't know about the others. And I didn't destroy you I didn't want toand because I haven't had this much fun in years!" Otoroshimon laughed. "Serious, the memories of him screaming like a little girl will amuse me for years."

The four of them sweatdropped.

"Plus there's the fact that he…" He pointed to Tentomon. "… Reminds me off my nephew."

Before anyone could say anything else the world melted away and the four digital beings were thrown back into the real digital world.

* * *

"Now that was weird." Gabumon said.

"This is even weirder." Matt said, pointing at the mask he was still holding.

"Hey, check out the painting." Izzy suddenly said. The three others gathered around to see what had happened to it.

Where the frightful image of Tai once stood, stood now a half wolf half man, wearing a bunch of rags that once was Matt's outfit and a mask. He reached towards the heavens as he stood with one foot upon his fallen foes.

"Okay, to much, let's go." Matt said as he made his way towards the door.

"You know, that guy reminded me off my uncle." Tentomon said as he flew after Matt and Gabumon. Izzy then did his best not to slap his airborne friend.

* * *

And now, a new champion is born. By the way, I don't own the Great Question. He belongs to the people who own Shadow Hearts. Oh and I changed the way he looks a bit because else he's to scary.

So now Matt is the Great Question, because if you defeat the GQ you become the GQ. By the way, the GQ mask holds great power as it doubles your speed and strength (or something like that) but Matt won't use it often.

Also: A new chapter! Oh man, you can't believe how much writer's block I've suffered from. I rewrote this chapter ten fing times! And I'm still not really glad with it.

Oh well.

I still have a bit of block but the next chapter of Spirits of Ages will be up somewhere next week. Oh, and check out my new story, it's a cross-over between digimon and naruto

**Important! I need help on Mimi's form!**

**you can chosebetween: -Lilymon hybrid**

**-Female Myotismon (thanks for the idea genbo :)**

**-Something else (say what and i'll think about it)**

Reviews!

Doodle-chan: actually it was Silent hill, so you're the closest to it. You can pick your price: either a cyber cookie or a one-shot (which you can chose what it's about!)

Genbo: I know it's creepy. But one of the other scenes with him is even more creepy. Trust me on this one. Never look up the 'man festival' it's horrible and killed of my brains cells. My IQ dropped two points when I watched it.

Depthmon: skull but he will keep his hair. Because I like skeletons with hair. Yes I am nuts.

Beth: thrust me, he's scary as hell. If you don't believe me, look up the man festival scenes but I already warned you about them. Oh, and I didn't answer them because I was hurrying to get the chapter online and didn't have much time. And sorry it took so long this time.

Super garurumon: That way I don't get sued and yes, thank god for fanfiction, where we normal people can annoy the hell out of our favourite characters.

Takari4ever3012: No your not, it was a rather hard one actually, because no one of my generation knows the awesomeness of that game. It's called Silent Hill and it caused me a lot of mental problems because I first played it when I was eight. Nah, not that bad actually but still...

anyway, R&R people!


	11. Goddess of Light

Ronald doesn't own Digimon... yet. His ninja hamsters are still working on it.

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 11

"So, where do we go now?" Joe asked. They had just avoided a room with spikes, you know, the kind with the ceiling that comes down. The two of them had nearly turned into a pincushion.

"I don't know about you but I think we should stay away from that one." Gomamon said, pointing at the door they just exited.

Joe groaned. He then sighed and wondered why he got stuck with Gomamon.

"Hey, do you hear that?" He suddenly asked. "Hear what?" Gomamon asked.

"I think I hear TK's voice." Joe said, pointing at a door.

"Oh no, not that one again." Gomamon groaned.

"It doesn't hurt to look if they're there, right." Gomamon just glared at Joe. "Okay, maybe a little." Joe admitted.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the dungeons.

"**Agumon! Warp digivolves to…WarGreymon!"**

Agumon had been replaced by his mega version and looked pissed off. VERY pissed off.

"How did he do that?" Sora asked. "No idea." Biyomon said. "Either Tai's close by or Agumon just forced his energy to flow."

Sora looked at her fellow bird. "You can actually do that?" Biyomon nodded. "Yes but it's incredibly dangerous. WarGreymon can probably only hold it up for a few minutes and he'll have a MAJOR headache later."

Meanwhile WarGreymon was fighting the Tai impostor. If you looked closer you'd notice that his skin colour had grown darker again and his hair was nearly yellow by now.

Another thing you would notice was the fact that he was that he was literally decimating his opponent. Not-Tai just wasn't able to recover from his previous attack and just took the many swipes that WarGreymon issued upon him.

Twelve seconds later the battle sounds stopped, WarGreymon dedigivolved to Koromon and went out like a light.

"Was that all he could-

At that time Not-Tai's internal gears shattered into tiny pieces, that cocky smile of his forever frozen on his face as he fell to the floor.

Biyomon walked over to Koromon and picked the pink ball up. "Told ya, he's knocked out." Biyomon poked him a few times and got no reaction. "He'll stay like this for a while and when he wakes up…well, let's just say it won't be a good day to be a HEAD."

Sora sweatdropped and signalled Biyomon to follow her back up the stairs. The others needed to know about this.

* * *

"Hang on TK! Kari! I'll save you!" Joe yelled as he broke down the door. He took about four or five tries. Then he realised the door was open. He stepped into a beautiful altar room. White walls, a stunning stone statue of a goddess of some religion he didn't know the name of and… a shattered chandelier on the floor, which he remembered as hanging ON the ceiling last time they were here.

"Oh hey Joe." TK said, cheerful as ever. He sat on one of the benches, apparently waiting for him to show up.

"Don't you 'hey Joe' me! Why did you leave me behind?!" Joe fumed.

"What, were you scared?" Gatomon asked, a feline smirk on her face.

"Yes, scared for the things Matt and Tai would do to me if something happened to you!" Joe yelled.

Around that time Joe noticed that Kari wasn't in plain sight. Actually if you looked around a bit you saw her.

Standing next to a huge man.

The same one that tried to kill them earlier.

"Aaaaah!!" Joe yelled, obviously scaring the man. "Kari get away from there!"

Kari, who just noticed Joe, shushed him. "But?" She shushed him again.

"What did I miss?" He asked TK. "Well, the big scary guy over there attacked us again… and we accidentally dropped a chandelier on his head." TK pointed at the ruins of what was once a perfectly fine chandelier. "And now he thinks Kari is a goddess or something.(1)"

Gomamon looked at Kari, the man and the chandelier in that order. "So, if I get this straight… if I drop that chandelier on him he'll think I'm a god?" Gomamon looked at him hopeful.

"Nah, it only worked for Kari." Gatomon said, clearly annoyed that she wasn't pronounced goddess.

"Which is weird, because I dropped it on him…" Patamon sulked. "I want to be a goddess damnit." This got him a few strange looks.

A minute or two later Kari came walking towards them, half-dragging the man with her. Joe took a good look at him. When he wasn't screaming and trying to crush them, he seemd actually rather…gentle.

Sure he was a huge man, with arms that could easily tear him apart like a wet piece of paper. But his big round eyes held a strange childlike innocence to them.

"He won't try to hurt us anymore." Kari said. "I don't think he wanted to in the first place."

Joe remembered how the man had nearly squeezed the life out of him and found that hard to believe. Kari obviously noticed Joe's doubt. "I think he was just lonely." She said.

"Plus he's a bit strange. He doesn't seem very smart either." Kari said, looking up to the giant man, whose arm she was holding.

Joe then figured it out. The man obvious had some sort of mental problem. 'Poor thing' He thought. 'The body of a giant and the understandings of a child.'

"I think he can lead us out of here." Kari said. The man apparently did understand what 'out' meant and motioned them to follow him.

"Hey Gomamon?" Joe asked as they followed the two preteens and their digimon, who followed the man.

"What?" Gomamon responded. "This whole place is a digimon, right?" Gomamon had told him about a possibility that that was true. "What's it to ya?"

"Well that man is also a figment of this digimon's imagination, right?" Gomamon nodded. "Then how come it's like this?" He pointed at the colossal man.

"Maybe that 'man' represents this digimon's days as a baby level, only trapped in a body produced by its current state of mind." Gomamon said in a serious tone of voice.

"Wow, that's the first time you said something serious." Joe marvelled. "Yeah, or he could be planning to destroy us all by leading us into a trap." Gomamon smiled his patented smirk at Joe. 'Bye-bye seriousness.' Joe thought as he smacked his forehead with his finned hand. 'I'll miss you.'

* * *

While Joe, Kari and TK followed their new mentally challenged friend, Izzy and Matt made their way back to the dining room.

"Okay, where do we start looking first?" Izzy asked.

"Obviously we look for TK, Kari and Joe." At first Matt considered only searching for TK and Kari. One, because TK was his brother and Kari was the sister of his rival. And two: he had a sneaking suspicion that it was Joe who shavecreamed him.

So Joe was lucky that he was paired with TK and Kari, else he'd probably be left behind. Or worse...

"I don't know." Izzy said. "They're with three and both Patamon and Gatomon are very efficient fighters, especially against virus types." He wasn't sure till he checked it but his guess was that Otoroshimon was a virus type.

"True, but Sora and Tai are together as well. Agumon can become a mega level, remember?" Matt said.

"You do know that there's only one way to solve this dispute, right?" Gabumon said.

"Indeed…" Matt's eyes narrowed.

"Ready?" Izzy asked.

The two of them cried out. "Jan-Ken-Pon!" (paper, rock, scissors)

Matt had rock, while Izzy had paper. "Ha! I win."

"Indeed, so you go after Sora and Tai." With that Matt and Gabumon disappeared towards the second floor.

"That's right, I … Dammit! Matt!" Izzy yelled after him. He then sighed.

"Let's just go Izzy." Tentomon said, before flying toward the direction of the stairs.

Izzy muttered something incomprehensible and followed his partner digimon.

* * *

The two of them met their charges halfway there.

"Izzy!" Sora yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Izzy looked down to see her. "Sora? Are you okay? There's some strange stuff going on here."

"I noticed." Sora scoffed as she made her way up the stairs.

"Hey, where is Tai?" Izzy asked when he noticed that their leader wasn't there AND that Koromon was currently knocked out.

Sora looked down a bit as she, Izzy and the digimon made their way back to the dining room. "It wasn't Tai." She said.

"What?"

"Like I said. That thing with us wasn't Tai. It was another of Puppetmon's toys." Sora said, clenching her fists as she spoke. "That damn piece of wood tricked us."

"That would explain why TK wasn't able to fix his wounds." Izzy muttered. "And the painting, let's not forget about that." Tentomon buzzed by.

All Izzy got was a confused look from both Sora and Biyomon. "We found a whole bunch of paintings here, most of them replicas of our world's art but one was different." He spoke. "One was actually a digimon in disguise. It transported us to some sort of pocket dimension within itself, which we fought our way out of."

Sora nodded, shocked by the fact that such a creature existed.

"But as I was saying, the creature known as Otoroshimon looked like a painting. One that featured Tai."

"What does that have to do with the copy?" Biyomon asked.

"Let's just say that Tai didn't look very healthy on it, skin over bones he was." Tentomon joked. Izzy didn't get the joke. "What he means: Tai was already changing in that picture. He looked like a skeleton or something like that."

Sora's eyes shot open at the mention of the word 'skeleton.'

"You don't think…SkullGreymon…" She said and Izzy nodded. "I believe so, why I don't know. Most of us changed into a miniature of our digimon's ultimate. But I have a theory that we don't just follow the same paths as them." He explained. "Like with Joe. I looked this up after he changed. Apparently Seadramon is just another path that Gomamon can follow, just like SkullGreymon is another path for Greymon."

Sora nodded in understanding. "This could also explain Tai's odd behaviour the last few days."

"The poor thing must have thought that we would hate him." Biyomon said.

"But we're not even sure if he's truly changing into SkullGreymon. All we know it could be just another attempt at messing with our minds by Puppetmon." Izzy said.

* * *

Unlucky for Tai it wasn't just another attempt by Puppetmon. For him it was as real as anything else.

He looked rather odd right now. Mostly because of the fact that his skin had decided to leave his body. He still had his mop of hair though, and he was grateful for that. Being a skeleton was one thing, becoming bald was worse.

Mimi was still knocked out and Palmon was taking care of here, not that she did much, other then waiting for her to wake up.

"I need some fresh air." Tai grumbled. That was another thing that had changed. His voice was deeper and sounded weird, almost as if it didn't come from his throat but from his chest. He'd have to ask Gatomon about it later.

Palmon just nodded, not showing any signs of fear. But that was because she was a digimon herself. The fiercest and scariest digimon were often the nicest, while the ones that looked rather harmless, like Myotismon or Piedmon, were true powerhouses and evil right down to the bone.

Tai walked outside the cave, breaking branches with his new, bigger feet. He quickly found his way to a small river. He bowed down to see his new face.

He shuddered as he saw himself. His face was replaced by a skull, only it didn't look very human. Well, it did look human but also like some mad scientist had added some other DNA.

His jaws protruded a bit, giving him a more lizard-like appearance. He had strong fangs that looked like they could bite through steel and a horn on the middle of his forehead.

"Great, I'm half man, half lizard, half unicorn." Tai grumbled as he checked the rest of him.

One thing he immediately noticed was that he was taller, much taller. He was almost taller then Joe was right now, and Joe had gotten quite a growth spurt as well. (They're both a bit taller then in season 2)

His clothing had been ripped to shreds, because of the six spikes, protruding from his shoulders, three on each side.

He had no idea what they were for, they looked rather hard to fight with and only served as defences if an enemy attacked from your sides.

He'd give them some thought later he decided.

Tai looked down at his left hand. It still missed a finger, TK still had it. There were still tentacles flailing around aimlessly where it sat.

The gears in Tai's head started to turn. He had come up with a theory and decided to test it immediately.

He picked up a branch lying near his feet. He snapped it in half, so one part was about the length of his missing finger.

He held said piece of wood near his hand.

Immediately the tentacles latched on to it, digging their way through the wood.

Tai flexed his fingers. "Interesting." He said. Indeed it was interesting. In theory he'd be able to add new parts to his body and upgrade himself, so to speak.

Tai sighed. He never wanted any of this but he was stuck with it, so he might as well use it to his advantage.

He continued his overlook of his body. His shirt was gone entirely, ripped to shreds by the aforementioned spikes.

His ribcage was very solid and looked much more denser then any other bone in his body. Inside sat an eerie looking orange life form. 'That's me.' Tai realised as he thought about what Gatomon told him before.

He still wore the tattered remains of his pants. They were nearly useless and looked like they would fall apart every second now. He just took them off to prevent it at a later time.

"What the…" He looked down. "Oh f!!" Tai cursed loudly. He then made use of some carefully chose words to express his anger a bit more.

* * *

Meanwhile at the mansion. "Hey, did you hear that?" Tentomon asked.

"Hear what?" Biyomon said, turning her head a bit, trying to locate whatever sound Tentomon had heard.

"Never mind. It was probably nothing." Tentomon shrugged.

* * *

After Tai was done swearing he ripped his belt from his pants. It was still in rather good condition. He clipped his digivice on it and put it around his neck along with his crest. Normally he'd put it around his waist, but his belt couldn't be tightened that much.

He felt rather exposed for some reason, but he didn't feel any cold, nor did he feel the wind. It was a terrible feeling.

He'd have to find Gennai, and fast. Maybe he knew what to do about this.

Tai made his way back to the cave. Mimi was probaby awake again, and sat against a wall. Her face was obscured by the shadows.

"Mimi?" He asked, not knowing for sure if she was awake or not. Palmon could have placed her against the wall, to prevent her clothes from getting dirty or something.

"Go away." Mimi sobbed. "Just go, please."

Tai felt his heart clench as she said that. He knew it. That they'd be afraid of him. But he had hoped that Mimi'd be different, especially after what she said to him before.

"Alright then." He said softly. "I understand that you're scared of me. I look like a nightmare right now."

Mimi stopped sobbing all of a sudden.

Tai turned around and prepared to walk away. He had anticipated this, but had no idea of where to go.

"No don't." Mimi suddenly said. "Stay, but just don't look at me."

Now Tai was even more confused. "Mimi what's..." He stopped talking the moment the moon appeared from behind the clouds, illuminating the cave.

He stared at Mimi's white hair.

* * *

Female Myotismon/ LadyDevimon got the most votes!

The people have spoken!

Also: The puppetmon-arc is coming to an end! No more cross-overs! They were fun at first but I 'm getting sick of them now.

Reviews, today I'm only answering a few, because most of them were to vote.

Gwangfei: He's staying like that  
Doodle-chan: I explained his look in this chapter, and where is your one-shot? I've been dying to write something new!  
super garurumon: Only a little bit, I like Michi  
Depthmon: 'summons Samehada and hits Depthmon with it' Sorry 'hit' but the people 'hit' have spoken 'double hit' and you'd better be kidding, I love that fic.  
Takari4ever3012: Correct! It was Gai-sensei! I can see that your flames of youth burn very brightly! (Ah Gai-sensei, what would the world be without you?)  
rose: actually they're just dark digimon, not evil and I hope you don't mind Mimi's change but as said before: the people have spoken.

Author notes

(1) If any of you played 'Haunting Grounds' you'll know what I mean. Debilitas, which is his name, is a huge man, nearly two meters tall and able to break the main character's spine with a hug. I actually felt sorry for him when I crushed him with that chandelier. After you do so, he'll see the main character as some kind of goddess and leave you alone, he even helps you. Also, I did this in place of the Numemon scene in the Machinedramon arc, because I don't like Numemon. So instead of a bunch of green dudes calling Kari a queen, we have one mentally challenged dude calling her a goddess.

R&R people!


	12. Splitting up

Still don't own digimon!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 12

"Mimi?" Tai asked. He couldn't believe it. She started the change to. For a while he actually thought she was immune or something to it. Heck, he had hoped she was immune to it. That way there may have been a cure for them.

But alas, the last human was gone, reduced to a sobbing little girl on the floor of a cave in the middle of nowhere.

Tai didn't know what to do. If he just walked up to her he might scare her. That was the last thing he wanted. But he couldn't just let her sit there like that.

She needed someone right now. Palmon was still there with her but she couldn't understand what was happening to her. She had never been human, she'd never feel what it's like to have your humanity ripped away from you.

Tai slowly approached the crying girl. He still didn't know what to say to her. To be honest, anything he'd say around now would be rather blunt. That's just the way he is…

He sat down next to her. He towered over her and had a good sight at her head, which was buried between her knees. Her hair was a very light grey colour, almost white. It was beautiful, yet it clearly didn't belong with her.

Suddenly Mimi latched onto him, just to have something to hang onto. Tai let her and stroked her hair with his free hand till she fell asleep.

As soon as that happened he confronted Palmon. "What happened when I was gone?" he whispered.

Palmon shrugged. "I don't know. one minute she was unconscious, the other she was up and another minute later her hair just lost colour." Taichi nodded as she finished, noting the look on Palmon's face.

She didn't fear him, that was clear on her face. Yet he knew that she felt a bit uneasy with him.

'What did Gatomon say again?' Tai thought. 'Something about the grave robbing.'

"Palmon." Tai said, causing the plant like creature to look up. "Do…do digimon leave bones behind?"

Palmon wasn't really shocked by the question. She knew Tai would want to know more about his new form sooner or later. And since Gatomon, their expert on Virus types, wasn't around she was the best choice.

"Almost never." She said. "But when it happens they're immediately destroyed or buried." Palmon answered. "Because they attract Skull digimon." She continued. Palmon wasn't sure but she felt as if he was confused. Normally she'd just look at his face, but that was a problem right now…

Tai nodded, signalling that he understood. "Let's get some sleep now, okay." He said. Indeed, the hour was late and with all that had happened that day he needed some shuteye. Not that he was able to shut his eyes anymore, because of the lack of eyelids…

* * *

With Joe and the gang. (Don't know why, but this sounds like a great name for a band.)

"Are we there yet?" Gomamon complained.

"Why the hell are you complaining? You're not even walking!" Joe was right about that, as Gomamon was currently sitting on the edge of his tail. "Your tail shakes to much. And I'm getting carsick."

"Getting carsick on a sea serpent. Now that's a new one." Gatomon smirked.

"Uh guys? We're near the exit." Patamon said, causing the three of them to look to see what was in front of them.

The man they met had led them to a gate. So it wasn't a trap after all. "Finally!" Joe exclaimed as he ran towards the huge gate. "Joe! Wait up there could be…"

"aaaaagh!!" A burning skeleton popped out of nowhere and in front of Joe, causing him to stop in his tracks. The skeleton was immune to his own flames.

"Leaving so soon?" It asked.

"Yes." Kari said. "We appreciated your 'hospitality' but it's time for us to leave."

"Now we can't have that, can we?" It laughed before flinging itself at Joe, who screamed and ran as fast as his webbed feet could carry him.

Gomamon sighed and jumped off of Joe's tail.

"**Gomamon digivolves to… Ikkakumon!" **Normally Gomamon would have immediatly continued to the next level, but he already scraped the roof with his horn in this form. He didn't want to know what would happen if he turned into Zudomon right now.

Ikkakumon immediately launched a Harpoon Torpedo at the skeleton, who just shrugged it off, as if it was nothing.

"My turn!" It jumped up to Ikkakumon and grabbed a hold of his left front leg. The huge beast cried out in pain and shook his leg, trying to send the creature flying again.

"**Patamon digivolves to… Angemon!"**

Said angel like being used his staff and hit the skeleton, sending it flying into a wall.

But it just stood up again.

Angemon hit it again, yet it refused to stay down.

"What the hell is this thing?" Joe asked no one in particulair. "No idea." Kari said. "But even our friend here is afraid of him." Joe noticed that the man, the one that's 2m tall and crushed the living daylights out of him, was currently cowering behind Kari.

"He must have a weakness of sorts." Gatomon, who hadn't interfered in the battle just yet, said. "They always have."

"I think I have an idea." TK said. "Today, we're solving a question that's been plaguing mankind since the dawn of time." TK grinned. He whispered something into Joe's ear.

"I sincerely doubt that'll work, but I'll try." With that said Joe ran off to support their digimon in battle. The skeleton was currently fighting against Angemon, who barely even held him back.

"Hey Bones." Joe yelled out, causing the skeleton to turn his head towards him. Joe took a deep breath and spewed forth an enormous blast of ice.

The consequences were visible quite quickly, as the flaming man was cooped up in a giant ice cube.

"Joe uses Ice Blast… It's super effective!" TK yelled from the sidelines. "Very funny." Joe said. "How did you know it would work?"

"Didn't know, just wanted to find out if ice was strong against fire." Joe's eye twitched. At moments like these he regretted saving TK's life back in the real world. But only a little bit.

Kari walked past the ice cube, blew a raspberry at it and quickly ran off.

* * *

"So this is the way out?" Patamon, who had turned back already, asked. "Probably." Gomamon said. He was on Joe's tail again, but this time he had a valid reason, as he couldn't stand on his left front paw.

"Let's just push it open." Joe said. "Then we'll know." With that said Joe pushed against the door, but he could have done the same with a wall. Actually, a wall would move more.

"Damnit, it won't budge!" He yelled out as he slammed into the door again. Kari was currently talking with her huge follower again.

"He can open it for us." She said as she dragged the man at the arm, leading him to the door. The man blinked a few times and then realised what his goddess requested from him. He _pulled _the door open, causing Joe to fall down in defeat.

"Bye!" Kari waved at her follower, who waved back at her. Gomamon had crawled onto Joe's back by now, and Joe was currently being pulled at the tail by Patamon, Gatomon and TK.

The doors closed behind them.

* * *

Matt was still searching TK's floor. The six of them had to be here somewhere. Perhaps they too had fallen victim to Otoroshimon.

He stopped at a painting. It was the only one on the floor. He eyed it suspiciously.

"What do you think Gabumon?" Matt asked, tracing the carvings of the painting with his claws. "That a sick mind lives here." Gabumon stated, pointing at the array of broken toys.

"Probably right about that, this is Puppetmon's place." Matt reminded him, turning his back to the painting. "I don't think they're here." He admitted.

"Let's check the rest of the rooms." Gabumon nodded.

Just as Matt looked around the room once more something odd happened. The painting behind him began to twist and turn, the image on it fading from existence.

"What the…"

A blinding flash of light and suddenly Matt was on the ground, covered by two angels, a sea serpent, a cat, a seal and a bat like creature.

"Let's never, ever do that again, okay?" Gomamon said. "Hey we landed softly." Joe said. "I think it's a pillow."

"Get off of me." Matt growled.

"Wow! Not a pillow!" Joe scrambled off of Matt, taking Gomamon with him. Kari and Gatomon did the same.

"Matt! Are you okay?" TK got off of his brother and did his best to pull the wolfboy to his feet.

"I can ask you the same." Matt said as he bowed down a bit to get at TK's eyelevel. "I'm fine." TK smirked. "No piece of art is going to stop me."

"A flaming skeleton nearly did." Gomamon muttered.

"Hey look." Kari pointed at the painting. "It's gone." The frame was still there but the picture of the angel was gone. Disappeared in a pile of digital dust.

"Must be because we defeated it." Gatomon said.

"Let's just go now." Gabumon said. "This room scares me."

"Okay, who's dragging Joe out of here?" Gomamon asked.

* * *

A few suggestions and some complaining later the went back to the dining room. There Sora, Izzy, Biyomon, Tentomon and Koromon waited for them.

"Good to see you all again." Izzy said. Joe nodded in response. "So I take it that no one found Mimi." Sora asked, noticing the distinct lack of a pink loving girl.

"Indeed." Joe said. "This whole place was just a set-up." Matt continued. "They were stuck in the same kind of painting as we."

"Hey…" Kari looked around. "Where's my brother?" She saw Koromon in the wings of Biyomon, but the big-haired boy wasn't around.

"Yea, about that." Biyomon started. "He wasn't real." Sora blurted out. "He was another of Puppetmon's toys."

"So, what you're saying is that Tai was replaced by one of those clones?" Matt asked, mentally cursing himself for not noticing.

"How come no one noticed he was a fake one?" Gatomon asked. "He has a rather 'different' smell, you know." She continued, giving small hints on what was going on with their leader.

"Hey! You didn't notice either." Gabumon defended himself. He had the best nose of them all, so he should have been able to sniff the impostor out.

"True." Gatomon said, no longer paying attention to the striped creature.

"People! We're getting off topic here!" Sora yelled. "She's right." Matt added. "We need to go and look for both Mimi and Tai now."

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" Tentomon yawned. "I'm tired."

"Me too." Biyomon added. "Gomamon is still injured." Joe added. "Hey! I can speak for myself you know." Gomamon glared at the back of Joe's head.

"We should get some rest." Izzy admitted. "Tai can take care of himself for one night, the same with Mimi."

Kari nodded. She knew her brother was safe. He may be an idiot but at least he knows how to survive out there.

At least, she hoped that…

* * *

The group quickly retreated to the bedrooms Matt and Izzy had discovered earlier. There were enough beds for all of them.

"Sure it's safe to sleep here?" Sora asked. Matt nodded. "Izzy's going to stand guard for now and Joe is freezing the paintings that hang here." They then heard Joe exhale a blast of ice on the nearest painting, freezing it entirely.

"Joe: 1 paintings: 0" He said smugly. "Eh Joe, we got eaten by a painting earlier, remember?" TK reminded him. "Damn, then Joe: 1 paintings: 1. There, you happy now?"

TK laughed. "Yeah."

Safe from potential new killer portraits and guarded by a bug-like creature the digidestined slept… till Izzy got tired and rudely woke someone else up and... Let's just say that it's NEVER a good idea to wake wolfboy up in the middle of the night.

* * *

Morning came swiftly. Tai had slept, somewhat. He had to pull his belt from his neck to in front of his eyes, there was no other way. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when your eyes are constantly open?

He heard a groan besides him. "Good morning." He said. Mimi slowly opened her eyes. "Good morn-"

Seeing the skeleton-man instantly reminded her of what had happened to her.

But she refused to cry about it anymore. "Good morning." She said again.

"Are you okay?" Tai asked. "You were rather distressed last night. Refused to let go off my arm too." Tai smiled. Well, he smiled in thought, as his face was now an eternal smile.

"Sorry about that." She released the arm she had in a death grip. "And I'll live." She said. So what if her hair was nearly white. That's why god invented hair dye.

Tai stood up. He also nearly fell back down, as he still wasn't used to his new body. Especially the part with the tail and that he was higher then before. He stuck out a bony hand to Mimi. She hesitated for a second and then took it, allowing Tai to pull her up.

"Where do you think the others went?" She asked. Tai looked down a bit as she mentioned the rest of the team. He still didn't feel like facing them.

"No clue." He said. "But I don't think I'm going back to them just yet."

"WHAT?" Both Mimi and Palmon, who had just entered the cave again, yelled.

Tai sighed. "I…I don't think I can face them right now. I need some time alone." He admitted.

"That's good." Mimi said, understanding why exactly he needed the time. "I'll come with you."

"What?" This time it was both Tai and Palmon who yelled this out. Mimi looked up at him, his shadowed eyesockets looking at her red eyes. 'When did they turn red?' Tai thought to himself.

"I've been thinking about it." She wringed her hands a bit. "There's just… too many of our friends have died. I need some time away from it all."

Tai nodded in understanding. He knew Mimi felt guilty about their fallen friends. The graves she erected in honour of Piximon and Choumon were evidence of that.

"Okay then." Palmon said. "But won't the others worry about us?"

"Probably. But they know we can take care of ourselves." Tai said.

"Where do we go then?" Mimi asked. "Don't know. Maybe looking for Leomon and Gennai. We need to find them anyway, if we want to win this war."

"Very well then, let's go!" Mimi pumped a fist into the air and ran off. "Mimi!" Palmon whined. "Wait for me!"

With that, the trio was off, leaving their friends behind in search of other potential allies.

* * *

Woot, no 'Matt going away' arc! I thought of this instead. Also, I didn't notice it untill today, but it's been a full year since I started on this site! Time truelly flies. I remember it like it was yesterday, that I wrote the first chapter of Spirits of Destiny. Ah Precious memories.

reviews

super garurumon: indeed!

doodle-chan: hurry up with it, okay? I need to write something new. cause i'm bored!

beth: Little bit of both

Depthmon: damn, a hundred reviews. I am awesome, just like you

SilverMau: there you go, one update :)

graypheonix: indeed, it ain't easy being green... I mean bone. And yes, Tai does feel protective about Mimi, but he'll never admit it ;)

Takari4ever3012: that would be interesting... A married Myotismon, someone to keep his plans of world domination in check. That would be funny as hell!

Martiny the one and only still: Nah, she's just a half vampire like thingy. with grey hair!

R&R people!


	13. Onigumo emerges

Onward Ninja hamsters! Disclaim Digimon for me!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 13

TK blinked his eyes. Day had come once more and forced him to wake up. Not that you could call it a 'day' anymore. There was barely any sunlight and even if there was, it was quickly obscured by dark clouds.

It was a miracle they could see anything by day.

TK sat up and stretched his wings. He had his wings for a few weeks now but he still rolled over in his sleep and onto them. Which hurt like hell when morning came.

Matt was already up. Or more likely, he never went to sleep. For some reason he refused to relinquish his guard duty.

TK thought that the werewolf DNA was getting to his mind. Especially after he heard Matt mumble in his sleep. Something about protecting the pack.

When he asked Matt about it he just denied it.

So like any good little brother TK refused to shut up about it.

"So… Protected the pack last night?" TK asked, a fox like grin obscured his angelic face.

"Shut up little brother." Matt said back.

"Come on, admit it. You like us." TK jumped off his bed, careful not to wake Patamon.

"Do not." The half man half wolf replied, crossing his arms as he did so.

"We all know it Matt. Stop being such a lone wolf." TK laughed.

"Okay that's it! You're going down little brother!" Matt tackled his only sibling. TK obviously saw this coming and flew up into the air like a bullet, nearly hitting the ceiling in the process.

Matt, propelled by his powerful limbs, shot through the room and landed on Joe's bed. Something about Joe that no one knows is that he talks in his sleep. And Joe had a dream flashback to his pet Chihuahua.

"Good Princess…" Joe mumbled in his sleep. "No don't eat my homework!" Joe then proceeded to pet Matt on the head.

"I didn't see that coming." Gomamon said. All the commotion had woken him up.

"The same." Matt said as Joe tried to hug him in his sleep. "Let go off me Lizardlips."

Joe woke up, blinked his eyes a few times and looked at what the hell he was holding. "Matt? What the hell are you doing in my bed?"

Around this point TK started to laugh, fell to the ground and then proceeded to roll around, crushing his wings in the process. But it was totally worth it.

"Yes very funny." Matt said, breaking free from Joe's grip. "Let's never talk about this again."

"I agree." Joe quickly said.

Meanwhile Izzy was recording the whole thing, wondering if he could put in on Youtube when they got out of here. He then had a great idea, which caused his insect-like mouth to turn to a smile.

"What's going on here?" Sora asked groggily. "Nothing!" Both Matt and Joe yelled out at the same time.

* * *

Meanwhile Puppetmon was getting annoyed. The digidestined had escaped his traps and destroyed his last toy.

"I'm getting bored here!" He yelled at the screen, obviously not knowing that his complaints were unheard.

"Oh well. Then it's up to me to get this party starting!" Puppetmon quickly ran off.

* * *

"So…were the hell are we going?" Mimi complained. "I'm tired and my feet hurt." Luckily for both Tai and Palmon 'Angsty Mimi' was gone again and replaced by her normal, complaining counterpart. Though Tai was starting to miss the other one.

"Mimi, we took a break twenty minutes ago!" Tai yelled. Mimi just whirled a strand of greyish hair around her finger, acting as if she hadn't even heard the skeleton.

"To bad sunlight doesn't hurt her." Tai grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Mimi glared at him. When Mimi glares, you're scared. That's a fact of life. When Mimi glares at you with red eyes, then you're terrified.

"Nothing, nothing." Tai held his hands up in defence.

"It better be." She sat down on a nearby rock, refusing to walk any further.

"This is going to be a long day." Tai sighed as Palmon nodded in agreement.

* * *

"Okay…everyone ready?" Matt asked. "Think so." Sora said. "Okay then, let's go."

They had no idea of where they should go. The forest was way to big to fully explore and there was Puppetmon to worry about. The creepy little bastard could show up anywhere, at any time.

"Anyone know where we should look?" Joe asked. "Nope."

"I can try to sniff them out." Gabumon suggested. He was rather proud of his tracking skills, even if he never got the chance to show them off.

"We could try that." Izzy said. "But won't you need something with Tai or Mimi's scent on it?"

Gabumon nodded, realising that his plan wouldn't work. He hung his head down in defeat. "I'm of no use what so ever without a smell."

"I've got an idea." Matt said, patting the dog-like digimon on the head. "TK, do you still have that bone?"

TK nodded, not seeing where Matt was going with this. Fortunately Izzy did figure it out. "You can't be serious Matt." He said. "Do you really think that's his?"

"You saw the painting Izzy." Matt said, his eyes narrowing. "I'm not saying that Tai turned into some ferocious monster but that bone could be his."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Joe asked, not liking the sound of 'Ferocious' in that sentence.

"We found a painting, like the one the three of you were trapped in. It showed a picture of a humanoid skeleton, which looked a lot like Tai. And more like SkullGreymon."

"So based on that you think that he's some kind of monster?" Sora asked. Izzy had told her about the painting and his theory but she thought he didn't take it serious.

"That would explain a lot." Kari spoke up. Everyone stared at her, as if she knew something that they didn't. Gatomon was currently squirming, trying to keep her mouth shut until they figured it out. THEN she could speak about it. She promised Tai not to speak of it but if they figured it out on their own?

"He felt weird." Kari said. "Dark. Not evil, just a dark force." She spoke with a serious tone no one her age should have. "I wasn't there when this SkullGreymon showed up, but would you hate Tai for it?" She knew of what that creature had done to them and couldn't really blame them if they were afraid.

The others were in deep thought.

"No." Joe said. He saw Tai as a good friend, no matter how much or how little skin he had.

"I already hate him." Matt said. They all knew that wasn't true as the two of them had some kind of hostile friendship. "Him being bony won't make a difference."

"Do we all agree to this?" Joe asked.

"Yes!"

"Finally!" Gatomon yelled out, causing everyone to look at her strangely. "You figured it out, so I can talk about it!"

"Did she find the catnip again?" Gomamon asked.

"Tai is turning into a SkullGreymon look-alike." Gatomon admitted. "I found out about his change rather quickly."

"He also promised me not to tell anyone, till he was going to." Gatomon continued, ignoring Gomamon's comment... For now. "But it seems that the cat's out of the bag."

"But why didn't he tell us?" Joe asked. "We would have accepted him."

"Isn't it obvious?" Matt asked. "He thought we'd hate him like we hated SkullGreymon."

"Tai always had a trust issue." Sora admitted. She had known the huge-haired boy for years, so she figured that part out rather quickly. "He acts like it's nothing but he doesn't trust anyone quickly. It took me a long time to get him to open up to me."

"Never noticed that." Izzy said. "He seems a rather sociable person." But then again, the computer geek didn't know that much about Tai either.

"He does trust you all, because of what happened between all of you." Kari said. The angel knew her brother better then anyone else. She also knew that her disease had something to do with Tai's psyche. "I thinkhe's just afraid."

"But we're getting from the point here people." Matt said. "We'll worry about Tai's new look when we find him and Mimi."

"Right." Sora said. "Besides, we can't let him run off to brood without Koromon, can we?" She said as she pointed one clawed hand at Biyomon, who was still holding a sleeping pink head.

"It's settled then, let's find him!" TK exclaimed.

"How about no?" An eerie voice was heard. The group turned around to see Puppetmon standing on a thick tree branch.

"Your little adventures are starting to get boring!" Puppetmon yawned to illustrate his point. "And that's why I'm interfering with the story line!"

"What the hell is he on?" Joe whispered to Gomamon, who just shrugged. "I didn't know we were in some story." Gomamon said back.

"Shut up! I'm the critic here and I say this play is going down the drain!" Puppetmon cackled.

"He's a bit weird, isn't he?" Biyomon said to Tentomon, who just nodded.

Matt sighed. "Can we just get this over with? And without some evil speech please." Puppetmon scoffed. "But I like those…"

"Anyway… Puppet Pummel!" Puppetmon jumped from his branch, hammer in hand. The digidestined scattered quickly as not to be crushed by the oversized utensil.

"Gabumon!"

"Right! **Gabumon warp digivolve to…"**

Bright light wrapped around the rookie, quickly twisting into the familiar shape of a wolf, covered in steel plates and armed to the teeth.

"MetalGarurumon!"

The newly digivolved creature shot forward, intend on ending the battle quickly, only to get a hammerstrike to the head.

"Not so fast puppy!" Puppetmon yelled. "I still have one last friend left that I'd like to introduce you to!" Puppetmon then proceeded to put his hammer down, rummage through the pockets of his outfit. He then pulled out a remote with a big red button on it.

"Oh I love this part of the story!" He pushed the button, causing the ground underneath their feet to tremble.

"This isn't good!" Joe yelled, stating the obvious.

The ground then split open, revealing the mechanics inside that made up the true forest.

"Behold…" A dark shape crawled out of the ground. "Onigumon!"

A giant spider crawled out of the ground. Eight legs made of steel, a body covered in iron plates and a cannon where its head should be. (Somewhat pun! Onigumo means demonic spider or something like that.)

"This isn't good." Izzy said. "Don't let it eat me!" Tentomon panicked and got the hell out of there. Before he was hit on the head by a pissed off Gatomon. Izzy had to admit it, spiders didn't seem like his favourite kind of animal since he turned into a MegaKabuterimon hybrid.

"Pull yourself together Tentomon! It can't even eat you, it has no head!" Gatomon then proceeded to hit the insect a few times more.

"Okay that's one problem taken care off." She said as she dusted off her paws. "What about tall, dark and crawly over there?" The spider-like creature hadn't moved an inch since he crawled from the darkness underneath Puppetmon's forest.

Gomamon narrowed his eyes, assessed the situation and…threw a rock at Onigumon. It sounded with a loud clang.

Onigumon still didn't move.

"Is it dead?" Sora asked.

"I think it's spring unwinded." Matt laughed. "Hey not funny!" Puppetmon yelled. He then looked up at Onigumon and jumped onto his creation. A sound was heard and suddenly Onigumon sprung to life.

"See! I just forgot to switch him from 'walk' mode to 'annihilate' mode!" Onigumon then fired a huge laser beam, evaporating a straight path of trees.

"MetalGarurumon! Let's go!" Matt jumped onto his digimon's back. MetalGarurumon ran towards the hulking creature and ran between its legs, trying to find a weak spot.

Matt jumped off of his partners back and grabbed a hold of one of Onigumon's legs. Onigumon shook his leg in an attempt to get Matt off of it.

Matt obviously refused to let go and sunk his claws into the steel material that made Onigumon's leg. Slowly but surely he climbed up towards the top, where Puppetmon awaited.

"Show off." Gomamon scoffed. "Yeah. Why can't we ever be the hero?" Joe asked. "You know, save the maidens in distress, beat the evil monsters." He looked at Onigumon and Matt. "Climb the evil spider… you know, stuff like that."

"That's because we're too chicken Joe." Gomamon said like it was nothing. "Well not anymore!" Joe yelled with fire burning brightly in his eyes. (his flames of youth burn brightly!)

"Aaaah!!" With a mighty war cry Joe ran forward, not even realising that Gomamon was still clutching to his tail.

"Is it just me or does this change truly 'change' people?" TK asked. "What do you mean?" Sora asked, though she had a good idea of what he meant. Normal Joe would never do such a thing, yet Lizard Joe just went and did that.

"Everyone's so different." TK continued. "Joe only shows courage on rare occasions, yet here he is charging a huge monster. Matt normally wouldn't fight, yet there he is, climbing his way up to take on Puppetmon."

"You'd almost think this change was for the better." Sora realised.

'But is this worth it losing your humanity?' She added in her mind.

"Go Joe! Kick that spiders ass!" Kari yelled. Sora sweat dropped. "Kari… the last thing Joe needs is more encouragement." She said. "It might make him believe he can actually beat it." She would have laughed, if it weren't for the seriousness of the situation.

* * *

Meanwhile Joe was running between Onigumon's legs, zigzagging between them, trying to to avoid getting stepped on.

"So… any ideas?" Gomamon asked while Joe dodged an attack from MetalGarurumon aimed at the spider. "I think we got in over our heads here!" Joe yelled as his scared side emerged once more.

"You should have thought about that before you charged in and dragged me with you!"

Right then MetalGarurumon's missiles impacted on Onigumon's left first leg, causing the creature to nearly fall, before it pushed itself back up. Though when he did so a small portion of it's core was visible.

Izzy saw this and quickly figured out a plan. "Sora, Kari and TK! Allow your digimon to digivolve! Now!"

"Right!"

**"Biyomon digivolves to Birdramon! Birdramon digivolves to Garudamon!**

**"Patamon digivolves to Angemon!"**

**"Gatomon digivolves to Angewomon!"**

The two ultimate levels and one champion stood ready for orders. "Okay when I say so attack, okay?" They nodded, waiting for him to tell them the next step of the plan.

"Sora." Garudamon spoke as she bend down to Sora's level. She handed Koromon to her. "Look after him." Sora nodded as she took the still unconscious digimon from her partner.

"Joe! Use your ice blast on the ground!" Izzy yelled. Izzy never was the leader type but when he had a plan people better listen to him.

Joe nodded, though he had no idea what Izzy was planning. He called on the strange feeling and blasted ice full power at the ground, instantly freezing it. The ice quickly spread over the entire battlefield.

MetalGarurumon figured out what was going on and fired a missile at Onigumon's legs. The missile impacted, causing Onigumon to lose its balance.

He tried to support himself with his other legs, but slipped on the layer of ice that Joe created. Matt, who was at three fourth of the leg sped up and climbed onto Onigumon's back.

Around that point Onigumon collapsed, showing its core from eight different angles.

"Now!" Izzy yelled. This was the moment they waited for.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon fired an arrow of pure light, easily piercing the weak core.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon's attack did the same, easily slipping between the protective plates and destroying Onigumon on the inside.

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon's attack was the icing on top of it all. The fiery attack scorched Onigumon, destroying it in the process.

"They did it!" Kari pumped her fist in to the air, taking flight at the same time. Onigumon was down and out, never to stand up again.

Matt and Puppetmon were still standing on top of the remains of Onigumon. "No! You destroyed my toy! How could this happen?!"

"Your toy's weak spot was way too big." Matt had easily spotted it from up there. Once one leg lost its footing it dragged down the plate it was attached to, causing the core to be exposed. One leg easily recovered but when all eight legs were down… Well Onigumon just became one big target.

"And now it's time to take care of you." Matt said, pulling something out of the remains of his clothes, something with a question mark on it…

* * *

Woot cliffhanger! Haven't done one of those in a long time. I think the battle scene went rather well, though I'm not really good at them… oh well.

REVIEWS

Martiny the one and only still: somewhat, he still think the others would hate him. Lol, he's the lone skeleton

Super garurumon: glad to see that. also, yeah I was bad back then. I rushed my situations to much but thanks to some advise from some fellow-authors I fixed that ;) I never thought that I'd get 380 reviews for it either

doodle-chan: KH is okay, but didn't you get my message? I wrote you to get me a list of subjects and I'll choose the ones I know off. Oh well, just get me a subject ;) I'm dying to try and write a one-shot for once

Depthmon: But still, randomness is still hard for me. I tried to write a crack fic once but just couldn't work with the randomness… We all have our strong and weak points, don't we?

SilverMau: More a silvery grey, like LadyDevimon's hair. And thank you :)

Jazzerman: For now it's still comfort. Maybe later in the story. I like the MimiXTai pairing.

Takari4ever3012: Ah Izzy…Have you learned nothing? It's very dangerous to wake Matt in the middle of the night. He hates getting interrupted in his dreams

esgue19: Don't really have any thoughts towards a new fic, though I'm willing to read suggestions 'wink'

ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous: Nah… I like them better this way. Besides else poor Joe would suffocate on land. 'Gets evil ideas!'

Beth: A little bit. Me and a friend are always discussing about what element would defeat which one. I am a strong rooter for ice and my friend for fire. It's getting bad though, one day we started throwing ice cubes at a camp fire… we're nuts.

Nick Johnson: okay, question 1: a different take on the dark masters arc, when they get back to the digital world. 2: the locations of the series. 3: dark masters arc. 4: the digidestined. 5: see 3

R&R people!


	14. Half way there

Ronald only owns this 'Shows applepie.' But i'll trade it for the right of digimon. or maybe not. 'Eats pie.'

* * *

Beyond humanity

Chapter 14

Joe crawled out from under the remains of Onigumon. He and Gomamon were lucky not to get crushed by the monster.

"Let's never do that again, okay?" Gomamon sighed in defeat as he crawled next to Joe.

"Agreed." A weak high five was used to seal the deal.

"Joe! Gomamon!" Sora yelled as she rushed over to them, Kari and TK after her. "Are the two of you okay?"

"Sure, why not?" Joe lifted his head a bit and held up a thumb. "Just a bit exhausted."

"Joe, you're an idiot." Sora stated. "Agreed!" Gomamon quickly said.

"Let's just see what's going on with Puppetmon and Matt, shall we?" Izzy said as he pulled out his camera.

'Insert Mortal Combat theme'

Matt pulled out his mask. He hadn't used it before but according to the old geezer it gave you great strength. But then again, the old geezer was a nutcase.

"Oh well… Only one way to find out!" He put on the mask with the question mark on it. Immediately he felt a rush of power go through him as the mask easily shifted to be worn on his canine-like face.

Matt also had the urge to yell about 'the fury of his rippling muscles' but refrained from that, as he was too cool to do that.

"How the hell did you get that!?" The puppet master yelled out. "Not even I knew where I lost it!"

"Where did he get that stupid mask?" Gomamon asked.

"We found it inside Otoroshimon." Izzy explained. "Apparently it allows one to become 'the Great Question' a being of great power. I'll have to ask Gennai about its origin though."

* * *

"None of your business puppetboy!" Matt yelled out. "But with it I will defeat you!"

Puppetmon was seething. No one denied him anything! He'd beat the puppy up and take the mask back, if it was the last thing he ever did!

Matt charged at the wooden creature, fist raised and ready to strike. Puppetmon, while nimble, wasn't able to dodge the attack. Or more likely, he just took the attack for some reason.

That reason became clear quickly as Matt pulled his right hand back. "My hand!" He yelled out. His clawed hand was nearly shattered. "Sticks and stones will break your bones Puppy." Puppetmon laughed. Matt cursed. He had forgotten about Izzy's description of this opponent.

"Fossilised wood, huh. As hard as stone."

"Indeed Puppy, you won't be able to lay a finger on me!" Puppetmon said in a sing-song voice.

"He's annoying isn't he?" Angewomon stated. "And uncreative." MetalGarurumon said. "He used the same name on me."

"Hey!" Puppetmon turned away from his rather one-sided battle. "How dare you call me uncreative! I am an artistic genius, remember!" Puppetmon then proceeded to go on about how he painted every piece of art in his house.

Meanwhile Angemon had picked up his mallet, which he dropped earlier and threw it at Matt.

Matt caught it with one hand. Normally he wouldn't be able to but the mask boosted his power greatly.

He walked over to the ranting Puppetmon, aimed his swing and send Puppetmon flying with one good strike.

"No fair!!" Puppetmon yelled until he became just a 'star' in the sky.

"Interesting way of defeating him, but all ways are good." Izzy said.

"Yeah, but is he gone? The forest is still around." Joe pointed out as he tried to stand up again. He pushed himself up against the tree he sat at.

* * *

Meanwhile Puppetmon soared though the skies, falling right into the area that once belonged to MetalSeadramon. You guessed it, one big smack at the core of the world later and Puppetmon was no more.

In response to Puppetmon's defeat the forest began to disappear under their feet.

"Me and my big mouth!" Joe yelled before he was picked up by Garudamon. Joe felt like a fish caught by an eagle but at least he was saved.

Matt, Gomamon and the recently dedigivolved Gabumon were also with Garudamon, only not in her claws. They were safe on her head. The others could fly anyway so they had no problems saving their selves.

That could not be said about a certain skeleton and his companions.

* * *

"Run!" Tai yelled, trying to stay in front of the deletion. Palmon was currently clutching to him as she wasn't the fastest rookie around. "I am running!" Mimi yelled.

"Run faster!"

They were lucky they were rather close with to the border of Machinedramon's city, else they'd surely undergo the same fate as Puppetmon before them.

They knew Puppetmon had been defeated, as the results of the other's victory were rather obvious.

"We're nearly there!" Tai yelled, trying his best to go just a bit faster.

The third part of spiral mountain was in sight! Only a few meters away…

Then it happened.

The ground underneath his feet disappeared.

He, Mimi and Palmon were currently flying through the air, one way ticket downwards.

Tai did an attempt at reaching for the edge of Machinedramon's district. At the same time he stretched out an arm towards a screaming Mimi.

Both arms got to their target.

He was currently holding Mimi's hand, while he used his other hand's claws to get a grip on the edge, above a seemingly endless abyss.

What joy.

* * *

"Think they got away safely?" Kari asked. "Tai's too stubborn. He's fine." Matt said as TK did an attempt at healing his broken hand. He took off the mask. He had half expected it to be a fake. Yet he felt a great rush of power spreading through his body when he donned it.

He'd just had to ask Gennai about it later.

"What's up with the silly mask Matt? Did it really help that much?" TK asked once the light from his hands faded away, signalling that his work was done.

"Actually it did." Matt said, flexing his hand a bit. "Normally I wouldn't have been able to lift that hammer with one hand." He motioned to the hammer that he accidentally brought with them. "Much less swing it."

"It appears that this mask accelerates your data. In a way it makes your data more potent, faster, like an upgrade, only a very weird and temporary one." Izzy concluded.

"Hey Matt, what are you going to do with this thing?" Joe asked grumpily. He hated Biyomon carrying him around like a fish, so he was rather cranky right now.

"No idea Joe, integrate it into our weaponry perhaps?" Gomamon rolled his eyes.

"Dips!" Joe yelled out. He then proceeded to try and pick it up, only succeeding in hurting his back in the process.

"Idiot." Sora and Gomamon said at the same time.

Off course Joe refused to give up and tried again.

Meanwhile Izzy had set up his laptop and was trying to establish a link to Gennai.

"Why are you calling Gennai anyway?" TK asked, hovering over Izzy, to try and see the computer screen.

"I want to ask him about the mask. For some reason it made Matt's data speed up greatly. That's what made him stronger and I want to know if Gennai knows off it."

"Okay." TK said.

"Joe give it up, there's no way you can lift that thing, let alone swing it around." Gatomon said to the fishman. Joe uncharacteristically ignored her advise and continued to try and lift it up.

"I did it!" He held the huge hammer above his head, only to fall over to the right. "Ouch."

"Hello? Digidestined can you hear me?" Gennai's image was visible, being projected from Izzy's laptop.

"Eh Gennai, we can hear and see you." Tentomon pointed out.

"Is that so? Sorry I thought I picked up my phone. Damn things look just alike."

"Anyway Gennai, we called you about this." Matt handed Izzy the mask, who held it in front of the screen. Holographic Gennai put his hand up to his chin and thought deeply.

"I know what it is." Gennai said. "It's one of the File's artefacts."

"File's artefacts?" Kari asked. "What are those?"

"We of the digital world are always connected with the internet, so plans of whatever is made in the human world always end up here." Gennai said. "And sometimes the Mega digimon or me." Gennai chuckled. "Get bored and start messing around with Digital Energy."

"The same stuff that caused these changes?" Izzy asked. "The same, but there's more of it now then ever before. Also, I noticed that my map wasn't of much use." He commented on their changes.

"Not really." Matt said. "Everyone has changed, though we're not sure about Mimi yet."

"But as I was saying… We digital humans or some Mega digimon often get bored, so we mess around with the fabric of existence or we download interesting stuff from the internet. And so we kind of created some powerful objects, which we accidentally scattered around the world."

"Wait, so you created this thing?" Izzy asked and held up the mask. "And you scattered them?" Gennai nodded.

"So there are more of these things around?" Matt asked. "No the Mask of Question is a one of a kind thing. But there are other artefacts around, though I doubt you'll ever encounter another. Most of them were destroyed at some point."

"However… As you know there are multiple great sources of Digital Energy spread around the world." Gennai said, his voice very serious all of a sudden. "Enough energy is provided from a few points to create more artefacts."

Sora thought for a second. "Wait, you mean those clones of us were like the mask?"

"Not entirely." Gennai said. He had heard that Puppetmon was doing something like that. "Puppetmon probably stumbled upon a source of Digital energy and decided to make some new 'friends'. He spread the energy over almost a dozen puppets. If he had concentrated it into one, then he would have created an incredibly powerful being."

"Lucky for us that he wasn't very smart, right?" Gomamon asked. "Indeed, but I must warn you, Machinedramon isn't a fool like his wooden comrade. He doesn't toy around and will destroy you all given half a chance."

"But before you go after him, I want you to do something for me." Gennai continued.

"But we're already saving the world for you!" Joe yelled as he got out from underneath the hammer. "Isn't that enough?"

"No." Gennai answered. "As this is part of saving the world. There are a few sources of Digital energy that I want you to go after, destroy if possible."

"So Machinedramon can't get his greasy claws on them." Matt said.

"Exactly." Gennai nodded. "I'm sending you the locations now. Good luck my friends." With that said Gennai disappeared and faded back into Izzy's computer screen.

A map of Machinedramon's territory was shown on the screen. A few big red spots were visible on it.

"We should head out to this one first." Matt said. "It looks like the biggest one and …"

"No!"

"Kari?" Sora turned to the angry angel. "Are you forgetting about my brother? He's still out here somewhere and we have to find him!"

"Tai can take care of himself and we'll run into him and Mimi eventually." Matt said, trying to ignore the little wolf in his mind trying to convince him of looking for the lost members of their pack- eh group!

"I don't care." Kari said. "But I'm going to find him and Mimi."

"She's as stubborn as her brother." Gatomon said and Sora nodded in agreement.

"Fine then but we can't let Machinedramon get to the Digital energy. God knows what he'll do with it once he gets it." Izzy said. "I suggest that we split up in two groups, one looking for Tai and Mimi and the other trying to slow down Machinedramon's harvest of the stuff."

"Me and Gomamon will go with Kari." Joe said, pushing his glasses up again. "We probably won't encounter any enemies but with my ice I can stall them long enough to get away." Gomamon nodded in agreement.

"I'm going too." Sora said. Izzy shook his head. "We're going to need you if we're too fight against Machinedramon. He may be powerfull but he's still a pile of steel. With Garudamon's fire attacks we may be able to destroy him." Izzy explained. "Or at least slow him down a bit."

"Then it's settled." Matt said. "We each go our separate ways. The two of you." He pointed at Joe and Kari. "Look around the edge of the machine district. Chances are that they're still around there." Joe nodded. "We're going to the biggest source of Digital energy." He pointed at the map, at a red dot north of them. "I'm not sure but I think it's that mountain over there." He pointed a clawed finger at the edge of the desert, where a lone mountain stood. "We'll see you there in a week."

"Yes captain!" Gomamon joked.

"Oh and take him with you." Sora said and handed Koromon to Kari. The winged girl took the sleeping head in her arms, holding him gently. "Tai's probably worried sick about him."

"Okay then, let's go and see you in a week." Gabumon said.

And so the digidestined split up again, one group in search of their friend, the other trying to prevent the bad guys becoming any stronger.

* * *

"Amusing, isn't it Machinedramon?" Piedmon laughed, his shadowed face barely visible as he looked at the screen. The antics of the digidestined amused him greatly.

"Indeed it is." Machinedramon said, his own form taking up most of the room.

"Well though I'll 'miss' Puppetmon, I've got to say those digi-brats did a rather nice job on him." Piedmon's smirk turned cruel. "Too nice. They're getting too strong. Machinedramon, I trust you can take care of them?"

"Leave it to me." Machinedramon said. "I'll crush them with my bare claws."

"Less talking, more crushing!" Piedmon said, clapping his hands in the process. Machinedramon grumbled and took off.

* * *

"Don't let go off me!" Mimi yelled. "Wasn't planning on it." Tai clenched his teeth. "Palmon; can you stretch your fingers and grab a hold off something?"

Palmon shook her head. "There's nothing there but sand and rocks. I can't get a grip on either."

At that moment the edge where Tai had sunk his claws into began to crumble.

"You've got to be kidding me." He whined as it broke off. He, Palmon and Mimi fell down, towards the same fate as Puppetmon earlier. Tai did his best to get a hold of anything on their way down but it was no use.

The three of them fell, screaming towards their demise, Tai's hand still holding Mimi's…

* * *

I'm so evil! Oh cliff-hanger how I love thee!

Also, I need an idea for a new File's Artefact. Any suggestions? Also, I call them that because they were created form files of the internet.

Reviews!

ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous: I'll think about it, okay?

Super garurumon: it's the mask of Question! The thing Matt got from the old man a few chapters ago. I don't blame you for not remembering. Hell I forgot about it as well, till I was thinking about Puppetmon's defeat.

Depthmon: trust me, I have cousins younger then her that have a very expanded 'vocabulary' kind of funny at moments. Also: what the hell! That's a strange law!

Martiny the one and only still: good one!

Beth: I think the chicken because… I like chickens.

SilverMau: here you go!

anime25: the same. Me and spiders have a love-hate relationship. I love seeing spiders but I hate them near me.

doodle-chan: okay then, question though. 1: who is Zexion, if he was in Chain of Memories, then I don't know him, as I never finished it. And if not, I need to replay KH2 ASAP. 2: Do you have any other ideas, cause I barely remember anything about Organisation XIII (again, need to play KH2 ASAP it's been way too long)

GRX3m0m: indeed they did.

Takari4ever3012: It suddenly occured to me. Joe mentioned something about his dog somewhere in the Etemon Arc, so I thought I'd put it there

R&R people!


	15. Making plans

Still don't own it!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 15

Falling down into the abyss is a weird sensation. Normally you would feel the wind rushing, signalling your impendent doom.

Tai felt no such thing. Having no skin did that to you. The only physical signs were his hair moving with the wind and his claws digging deeper into Mimi's hand, desperate not to let her go.

'_Clang'_

The sound of bone being nearly crushed by steel sounded through the endless void.

Tai looked down and noticed they weren't falling anymore. He looked up to see a steel clad arm nearly crushing his. But at least he wasn't plummeting towards his doom anymore.

Gears were heard and suddenly he was pulled up and into a huge sewer pipe of sorts, sticking out of the edge of Machinedramon's domain.

"How nice of you to come dropping in." A vaguely familiar voice said as Tai, Mimi and Palmon were pulled into the pipe.

Tai looked up at their saviour. "Andromon?"

"Correct." The robot digimon said. "Though I would like to know how it is that you know my name?"

"We met earlier. You tried to kill us, remember?" Tai said, pointing out their previous encounter with the steel warrior.

"We're part of the digidestined." Mimi said, her hand still caught in Tai's grip. "Eh you can let go now." Tai immediately released her hand and if he was able to he'd be blushing. Luckily for him he lacked the skin to do so.

Mimi scoffed at the fact that her hand looked more like a piece of Swiss cheese by now, because of Tai's panic reaction. She also noticed the lack of pain but decided not to comment on it.

Meanwhile Andromon was still scanning the three in front of him. Literally scanning.

'_70 SkullGreymon 30 Human. Proceed with extreme caution.' _That was what his scanners told him about the skeletal creature in front of him. They claimed to be part of the digidestined. He did recognise the girl and the Palmon, though the red eyes were new.

Andromon decided to listen to his gut, or the parts not replaced by machinery that is.

"I believe that you are the digidestined, though I remember there being more of you." Tai thought he'd comment on the changes before that but he wasn't complaining. He'd rather not be reminded of it.

"There are more of us but we needed some time alone." Mimi said. "We need to think things over."

"So you needed to be alone? The two of you?" Andromon allowed a rare smile to grace his face.

"Ehhh! Not like that!" Mimi exclaimed, holding her arms up in defence.

Andromon laughed at her distress. "Just kidding." He said. "But follow me now. These pipes aren't safe." Andromon took off, walking through the pipe and took a right.

"Since when did Andromon get a funny bone installed?" Palmon asked. "No idea but I like it." Tai said, the everlasting smile on his face growing a bit wider.

This was followed by a hit to the skull, courtesy of Mimi and a steel pipe laying on the floor.

* * *

"So… do we even know where to start looking?" Joe asked the youngest member of their team. "No clue." Kari said, hovering an inch or two above the ground. Gatomon walked besides her, trying her best not to look down into the abyss. Who knew there were cats with fear of falling into an endless abyss?

"They're here somewhere." Gomamon mused. "But where? That's the problem."

Joe's eye twitched a bit as he tried his best not to hit his partner digimon on the head.

"That isn't much of a help Gomamon." Joe said. "I know, just thought I should point it out." The seal said happily.

'Don't kill him. Don't kill him.' Joe repeated in his head like a mantra.

"I think they were here." Gatomon suddenly said. "Smells like a graveyard here." She sniffed the ground around a broken ledge.

"She's right." Gomamon took a whiff of the scent himself. "Definitely bone."

"You think they dropped down there?" Kari asked, seeing the small dents where Tai's claws had did their best to get a grip on the ledge. Kari then proceeded to jump over the edge of the desert. Joe then freaked out, only to remember that she had wings and thus wouldn't drop to her death.

Or at least he hoped o, else he'd be next to be thrown in.

"Kari? Do you see anything down there?" Joe asked nervously, hoping that she'd respond to his question.

"There's a sewer pipe here!" She yelled before flying back up. "But I don't think I can take you down there. I'm having enough trouble holding Koromon up." She said, indicating the pink head in her hands.

"Do we even want to go down there? We're not even sure it's sanitary." Joe exclaimed. "Or that Tai or Mimi is even down there." He quickly added that.

"It's the only place they could have end up." Gatomon said. "That is, if they were able to get there at all. For all we know they dropped to their doom."

"Nah." Gomamon started. "We all know that Tai is to stubborn to die."

"He's right about that."

"Koromon!" Gatomon yelled. "You're awake!"

"Don't yell so loud." Koromon said, trying his best to shield his ears from her yelling. "I've got a major head ache."

* * *

After some explaining and some painkillers, courtesy of Joe, the five of them continued their quest towards the sewers.

"So any idea of how we're getting in there?" Gatomon asked.

"How about that?" Gomamon pointed at something in the ground. "That wasn't there a minute ago." Joe said, eyes bulging when he saw the manhole in the middle of the desert.

"Joe, by now you should have figured out that nothing in this world makes any sense." Gomamon said, using his 'wise old geezer' voice.

"I know but even that is a new one." Joe pointed a webbed hand at the entry into the sewer.

"Well, I'm not complaining." Gatomon said, walking over to the manhole, lifting the lit with ease and tossing it aside.

"Did you know she could do that?" Koromon asked. "No." Kari stated bluntly.

* * *

The trio was currently wadding through, what they hoped to be, water. Andromon was going a steady pace but they easily followed, even though Mimi was complaining again. this time about the moist conditions of the sewer.

"This is terrible for my hair, you know." Mimi said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger. Her fingernails had turned blood red and sharp some time after they entered the sewer.

"We know." Tai stated. "You told us a few times before."

"We're here." Andromon said.

The android had led them towards an underground room of sorts. Not big but enough to house a few humanoid digimon. Not that you'd want to house them there, seeing the fact that a whole bunch of pipes were running above them, leaking at moments.

Nonetheless there were some digimon there. Actually just a few. Two Numemon and a strange looking Ogremon with a suit and a cane.

"You look familiar." Tai said as he walked up to the Ogremon. "Didn't you try to kill us when we fought Devimon."

"No, don't think so." The Ogremon said. "I think that was my foolish cousin. He always hung around some Devimon with some megalomaniac issues." The Ogremon laughed at that.

"My name is Jeeves by the way. And I think I encountered some of your companions earlier." Jeeves said as he looked at the two of them. They too seemed rather humanoid, though just barely for the skinny one.

"Was there a guy with them that looked like a mutt?" Tai asked.

"Yes, they called him Matt or something like that." Jeeves said, trying his best to remember the boys name.

"So you met our friends then?" Mimi asked. "Indeed, I was an employee of Puppetmon. Well more like slave but I was in charge of his summer cottage. That's where they showed up."

"Are they okay? They fought Puppetmon after all." Palmon asked quickly.

"No clue. After I realised Puppetmon was defeated I got the hell out of his cottage by an escape hatch." Jeeves said, holding his hand behind his head as he spoke.

"Eh no offence but what's with the outfit?" Tai asked. "I've never seen an Ogremon with anything more then a loincloth."

"Ah yes. Most of my kin aren't as sophisticated as myself. With this outfit I feel like I can go clubbing any day of the week." Jeeves said proudly.

"Then what's the cane for?" Mimi asked. "Clubbing people." The three chosen ones deadpanned.

"Enough of this." Andromon said, feeling as they had wasted enough time to Jeeves' hobby. "As you know this part of the tower belongs to Machinedramon." Andromon said, getting to business immediately. "As it is we can't defeat him. He has found a few digital energy sources and he plans on using them to further increase his strength."

"What sources?" Tai asked, looking as confused as he could. "Digital energy. I believe it had something to with your changes, did it not?"

"Yes it did." Mimi answered quickly, trying to get to another subject.

"As I was saying, we can't defeat Machinedramon as he is too powerful. And he grows more powerful by the day." Andromon said, concern obvious in his voice. "I also discovered he has a File's Artefact in his base."

"A what?" Tai asked. "A File's Artefact, an item of great power. With it we may be able to defeat Machinedramon. Or at least weaken him enough for him to back off for a while."

"Okay then, what are we waiting for?" Tai asked. "Let's go and get this artefact thingy from him!"

"Where is it?" Mimi asked, trying to be the voice of reason in this situation. "And when can we steal it from Machinedramon?"

"Soon, as Machinedramon will be leaving his base for another source of digital energy." Andromon said. "But stealing it won't be easy, as his base will still be guarded by his minions."

"Leave them to us." Tai said. "Agumon may not be here with us but we can fight as well, right?" He looked at an enthusiastic Palmon and a nervous looking Mimi. She had never fought before in her life and preferred to keep it that way.

"You sure about that?" Andromon asked. "Shouldn't you find your friends? We can get it on our own." The android spoke calmly.

"But you just said you need help." Tai exclaimed. "Why go though the plan if you don't want us to help?"

"Ehh…" Andromon fell silent. "Very well then. Machinedramon leaves tomorrow morning. We sacrifice one source of power for another."

"You just point the way Andromon and we'll get this item." Palmon said. "Right Mimi?" She asked, trying to reassure herself that Mimi would help them.

"Sure." Mimi said, though not very enthusiastic. She actually wanted to avoid any fighting and stick to finding Gennai and some allies. But this was the same, right?

* * *

The next morning

"Everyone ready?" Matt asked. They had arrived at the source rather quickly, courtesy of Garudamon airlines. They had slept rather well in the cave where the source of power was supposed to be. They hadn't seen it yet and preferred to keep away from it.

"I think I can see them." Izzy said, hovering a few meters above everyone. "Good. Izzy, get in the cave. We're going to try and take Machinedramon down. if we fail, I'll yell and you blow the source up, okay?"

Izzy nodded and flew inside.

"Here he comes." Gabumon said.

* * *

Next chapter, Tai, Mimi, Joe and Kari meet each other again and they break into Machinedramon's base. They're doomed.

**Okay, it took me a while but I found three items you can choose from.**

**Sparda, the blade Dante obtains in Devil May Cry. It changes from a sword to a scythe to a spear if used properly.**

**The Chicken Gun. Foes tremble for the awesome might of the Chicken Gun. It looks like a mini gun but fires chickens and has an unlimited amount of 'ammo.' Comes from the game Dungeon Siege and is a cool joke weapon.**

**Frostmourne. Those who played Warcraft or WoW**** should know this name as it is an evil sword, capable of corrupting the hearts of men and turn them to the undead. Luckily for Tai it can't do that anymore ;)**

**Vote please!**

Reviews

Genbo: there you go, another cliff-hanger

Super garurumon: Interesting. What happened this update?

Graypheonix: vaguely, I'm not that good in history but I do remember reading something like that.

SilverMau: there you go

Martiny the one and only still: I know it's cliché but it's my favourite cliché. And yes, i did split the team up again, so I could have four people on each half.

Aster Selene: a bit but I liked that part

doodle-chan: Sorry but I'm not good with drawing, else I'd draw Tai for you. Oh well, anyone who wants to draw fanart? Nah just kidding.

anime25: I like cliff-hangers. They make the world go round.

Depthmon: 'steals pie and runs like hell' Also: lol at the pigs man, they'll never take me alive!

Takari4ever3012: Nah, I found three things but thanks for the suggestion.

Beth: it's a big pink orb, that hurts like hell when you hit it. Like the one in frontier. Also: Jules Verne rules! I read 20 000 leagues under the sea. Love that book.


	16. Imbedded in ice

Ronald owns a pie, thanks to anime25! but nothing else!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 16

"I hope this is water." Joe said as he wadded through the sewers. "Why don't you try and find out?" Gomamon asked, safe on his perch on Joe's tail. "Why don't you?" Joe shot back.

"The two of you shut up before I push you in." Gatomon threatened. "Yes ma'am." Joe and Gomamon said in unison.

"Where do you think Tai went?" Kari asked the in-training digimon in her arms. "Don't know but I smell him faintly." Koromon's nose wasn't one to be doubted. He was able to smell Tai's cooking from miles away, so sniffing out the chef himself shouldn't be too hard.

* * *

Said skeletal chef was currently somewhere closer to Machinedramon's base of command, trying to extract the File's artefact that lingered there.

"You sure this is the right way?" Tai asked as they walked through the sewers near Machinedramon's base. "I think we've passed this part before."

"Off course we haven't." Jeeves said, before hitting Tai on the head with his cane. "Andromon told me where exactly the base is, so just follow me."

"Okay then, but if you hit me on the head one more time I'll break that cane." Tai threatened. "Yeah!" Mimi added. "Only I can do that." This caused them all, except Mimi, to sweatdrop.

* * *

"Pitiful digidestined." Machinedramon spoke in a calm voice. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"

"Perhaps not." Matt said. "But at least we prevented you from getting this source." The wolfboy smirked. "Now Izzy!"

The crackle of electricity was heard, followed by an explosion. Izzy and Tentomon came buzzing out of the cave, full speed with the heat caused by the explosion following them. "Too hot!"

"No!!" Machinedramon yelled and attempted to step on Matt, who only barely dodged it. Luckily for him Machinedramon was rather heavy and barely suitable for battle on sand. "Giga cannon!" He yelled, firing twin beams at Matt.

Matt would have been deep-fried if it weren't for Sora sweeping down from the heavens and pulling his tail towards safety.

"Thanks." He muttered as she dropped him again, some distance away from the glass that made up his previous position.

"No problem." Sora said quickly. "Matt I think we should get out of here. The digimon can barely scratch Machinedramon's husk."

She was right. Angemon's attacks, while powerful against all Virus types, did nothing against the metal armour around Machinedramon. Neither did MetalGarurumon's icy attacks slow him down.

The only thing that slowed him down just a little bit were Garudamon's fire attacks. The searing hot flames heated the metal husk up, causing Machinedramon a minimum of pain.

"Giga Cannon!" He yelled again, aiming higher this time, scorching one of Garudamon's wings and forcing her to dedigivolve.

"Come on Matt, let's go!" TK said to his brother. "We've won this battle, so let's make a tactical retreat." Izzy supplied.

"Right." Matt nodded before turning tail and running, with the others right behind him.

Machinedramon allowed them to escape. He was build for complete and total annihilation, not speed.

"Soon brats. Soon you'll turn back to the ashes that spawned you." He threatened, firing a Giga Cannon after them as a threat.

* * *

"The smell is getting stronger." Koromon said. "Tai definitely passed here."

"Smells like boneyard to me." Gomamon commented. "Off course it does." Gatomon said. "Tai turned into a walking graveyard, remember?"

"Oh right."

* * *

'Crap.' Tai thought. 'Gatomon and Gomamon. That means Joe and Kari aren't far away.' He heard their voices through one of the pipes, so he had no idea where they were.

Tai didn't know what to do. Either he'd find where the voices came from or he avoided them some more.

He sighed.

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked. "Joe and Kari are here somewhere." He said. "Should we go look for them?" Mimi was confused by the question. "I think we should, but how do you know they're here?"

Tai pointed at the pipes. "I heard Gatomon's voice through those pipes, so they can't be far off."

"Then let's find them." Palmon said. "It will be nice to see them again and beside, we may need the extra help getting into Machinedramon's base."

"I know." Tai said. "But I'm just afraid. I don't want my baby sister to see me as the monster I've become." He leaned against a steel wall.

* * *

"_I don't want my baby sister to see me as the monster I've become."_

"Was that Tai?" Joe whispered, trying to make out where the voice came from. "I think it was." Gatomon said, her ears twitching trying to find the source of the voice.

"Just keep quiet, so I can locate him." Gatomon said as she closed her eyes.

"Tai!" Kari yelled into one of the pipes, causing Gatomon to drop down in pain. "Don't yell so loud when I'm trying to concentrate!"

Kari smiled. "Sorry but Tai's voice came from in here." She pointed at a thin pipe. "So is he stuck in there or something?" Gomamon asked.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Jeeves asked. "I think this pipe goes both ways Tai." Mimi said.

"I think the same." Tai sweatdropped. He had almost spoke directly into the pipe itself, so no wonder they heard it.

* * *

"Now where was I?" Kari mused. "Oh right."

She walked up to the pipe and yelled down it. "Tai! You idiot! How can you even think that!" Kari turned red as she stopped yelling and took a deep breath. "You are my brother! I wouldn't care if you turned into a ten foot slug! And you know I hate slugs!"

Joe sweatdropped. "Well… that's one way to put it."

* * *

Tai was relieved and worried. Relieved because his sister wouldn't view him as a monster either way. And worried because the yelling might draw on Machinedramon's guards.

"Kari. Stop yelling." The skeletal man said quickly through the pipe. "Can you make your way to the entrance of Machinedramon's base?"

"How?" Was the response.

"Just follow the black cables. On the ceiling." Jeeves said.

"Okay." Was their answer, along with some incomprehensible complaints from Joe.

"See you there." Tai said. "And thank you… for not hating me." If Tai could cry he would have.

"I can't hate you." Kari said. "You're my brother."

* * *

"Where are they?" Joe complained. They had arrived at the entrance but no trace of Tai and Mimi. Joe was becoming nervous. Not about their whereabouts but about them. He knew he'd accept Tai as he was but he still had to see him in person. He just hoped he wouldn't faint.

"Oh come on! They're- Joe was cut off by a hit on the head. By a cane to be precise. "Keep it down Fishy. Them Neo-Devimon aren't just for looks." Said dark digimon stood at the entrance to Machinedramon's base. One on each side of the massive gate.

"They have great hearing and will rip you apart if given a chance." Joe turned white and decided to shut up.

"Tai!" Kari ran up to the skeletal warrior. She didn't flinch as she saw his face. "Hey Kari." Tai said softly. "Sorry for worrying you."

He bend down a bit and Kari threw her arms around his neck, encasing him in a bone-shattering hug. "You idiot." She whispered.

"I know. I know."

"I always cry at moments like these." Gomamon said as he pulled a handkerchief out of Joe's medical bag.

"Hey Mimi." Gatomon said. "You can come out now." Mimi had stuck to the shadows for a while but her red eyes were a dead giveaway.

"Hey everybody." She said, nervously whirling a strand of hair around her finger. Gatomon flinched as she saw Mimi. "You look like Myotismon."

She took a sniff and relaxed obviously. "But you don't smell like him, so that's okay."

"Thanks, I guess." Mimi answered, not knowing if it was a good thing.

"Wow." Joe said. "Tai I knew but Mimi? You look like a vampire!" Joe said, astonished by this fact.

"Really Joe? I hadn't noticed." Mimi said sarcastically. "I think it looks good on you." Kari said as she let go off Tai. "I don't know." Mimi said. "But perhaps it'll become the new fashion when we get home!"

* * *

"Wow Tai, how did you lose so much weight?" Koromon joked. "Good diet and lots of exercise." Tai responded playfully. Odd how one can go from fear to happy so quickly when in this kind of situation.

Tai picked Koromon up. "What happened to you? last time I saw you, you were still Agumon."

"Last time I saw you, you still had some meat on your bones." Koromon rolled his eyes. "I kind of went berserk and slaughtered your clone."

"Oh right, that guy. Didn't look like me at all." Tai said, remembering the one he fought.

"Can we get down to business now?" Jeeves said, swinging his cane around. "We haven't got all day. Machinedramon can come back any moment."

"What are you up to?" Joe asked, weary of the Ogremon. He recognised him from Puppetmon's mansion.

"We're stealing one of Machinedramon's File's Artefacts. Two if we're lucky." Jeeves answered. "When did he get two?" Tai asked, Andromon had said nothing about a second one.

"He always had that second one, it's just not as powerful as the one we're after." Jeeves explained calmly. "You five know what they are?" Kari, Joe, Gatomon and Gomamon nodded. Koromon had been unconscious before so he had no idea what they were going on about. But he'd soon see for himself.

* * *

"Okay, ready?"

The digidestined answered positively and Jeeves charged forward.

"Hey idiots!" The twin Neo-Devimon turned towards him. "Come and get it!" With that said Jeeves began taunting them, using various poses to piss them off. Soon the two ultimate level digimon chased the humble butler.

"Wow, for an Ogremon he is rather fast." Gomamon commented.

"Less talk, more door smashing." Agumon said. He had digivolved before Jeeves distracted the guards.

"Yeah yeah, just step back." Gomamon cracked its paws. "This requires a certain finesse."

Two minutes later.

"Vulcan's hammer!" The big metal door was knocked of its hinges and sent flying inwards.

"Finesse you say?" Joe asked, sitting on top of the giant walrus for a change. "Shut up, the door is open, isn't it?"

"It is and with it the noise it made the other guards will come running." Tai commented as he ran after the ultimate digimon.

The base was rather plain. Big halls made from a light blue steel. Looked like you'd get lost easily here.

Luckily for them Jeeves had drawn them a map. "What the hell?"

"This isn't a map, it's a bunch of chicken scratch." Joe said as he pointed at the piece of paper.

"This thing makes Tai's maps look good." Agumon commented. "Yeah, this makes my maps look- hey!"

"I say we go there." Zudomon said, pointing a huge finger at a heavily ornamented door. "Bad guys always keep their powerful weapons behind such doors, right?"

"This isn't a movie Zudomon." Joe said. "But it can't hurt to look there. It's better then trying to read this map."

* * *

With the map discarded and forgotten they walked up to the door, where Zudomon tried to smash it in again. "Eh Zudomon? How about we just open this one?"

Zudomon hmp'ed "You guys are no fun." But he did what was asked of him and gently opened the huge door.

"Is that it?" Tai asked. "Rather cliché isn't it?"

Tai pointed at the pedestal in the centre of the spherical room. "This is the digital world." Gatomon commented. "We're big on clichés here."

"I noticed." Mimi said, remembering the whole cliff incident.

"Let's just get the Artefact and get out of here. Screw the other one." Joe said, his eyes darting around the room looking for the guards.

"Good idea." Palmon said.

"I'll go get it, you all watch my back." The others nodded and Tai walked through the room and towards the pedestal.

'There's something wrong here.' He thought. 'I can feel it in my tail.'

* * *

Soon Tai arrived at the pedestal. Now that he was closer he noticed it wasn't just some run of the mill pedestal. No, it was a block of solid ice and in it stuck a sword.

One unlike any he ever saw before. It called out to him.

It was beautiful, yet it cast a dark shadow across the floor. It's handle had a skull on it and runes were carved into the steel. It just reeked of evil. Of power. Power beyond one's wildest dreams! And yet, evil surrounded the blade...

Tai shook his head, trying to get he feeling of dread out of his thoughts. He'd need the blade to defeat Machinedramon. If it stayed with the evil mega it would mean their deaths for sure.

Tai's bony hands gripped around the handle.

"Dark Cloud!" A thick poisonous fog suddenly engulfed the other digidestined. The earth shook as Zudomon dropped to the ground, seemingly sleeping because of the gas, before turning back into Gomamon.

"You didn't really expect that there'd be no guards around here, did you?" A demonic form said, appearing out of thin air. It looked like a humanoid goat with bat wings.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mephistomon. And this good chap is SkullBaluchimon." At this time a skeletal wolf with dragon-like wings burst through the floor before rearing its claws and sending Tai flying against the wall.

"Seriously SkullBaluchimon, you have to stop doing that. We have a door you know." Mephistomon pointed at said door. SkullBaluchimon didn't respond. "Oh very well then, have it your way. Take these to the prison cells. The boss will want to know who dares to try take Frostmourne."

SkullBaluchimon didn't say anything, he just did what Mephistomon ordered him too.

"I'll take care of your brother over there." The goat man said, making a jab at their kinship. Again no response.

SkullBeluchimon disappeared with the knocked out digidestined.

Mephistomon sighed. Why couldn't he get a companion a bit more talkative? Oh well, at least he got the job done.

He flew over to the pile of bones. They looked rather broken. Who ever he was, he wasn't going to get up anytime soon.

* * *

OMG I killed Tai! Now who will save the world? 'screen skips to Joe wielding Frostmourne.'

WOW! Bad mental image!

Reviews

Genbo: Michi all the way! My favourite pairing actually

Graypheonix: already PM'd you about his but: the chicken gun is capable of launching poultry at the speed of sound! Nothing can stop its path of destruction!

Princessjaded: thought so, everyone loves Frostmourne!

Thedigitalrailroader: Don't know that… damn Belgium and its limited program selection…

Super garurumon: Frostmourne again… also two accidents? Damn…

Depthmon: Woot!

Aster Selene: ys, she changed into an angel quite some chapters ago.

Martiny the one and only still: another frostmourne! And not so scary reunion actually. Could have made it angstier but I just wanted it out of the way, so we can move on to this part

Minwolf: It does, but that's because Frostmourne is linked to the Lich King. Here it isn't but it may have some side-effects on Tai ;)

SilverMau: I might just do that.

anime25: Ronald obtains 'Chicken pie' Woo-hoo!

GRX3m0m: thanks

star's dreams: one for the chicken gun!

Takari4ever3012: another for frostmourne!

R&R people! Or else I'll give Joe Frostmourne! Nah, just kidding!


	17. Reasons for Hate

Ronald owns nothing!

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 17

Mephistomon looked over the only victim caused by SkullBaluchimon. Well 'victim' was putting it lightly. Scrap was more like it, as he could barely see any bones still whole. The head perhaps but that was it.

"Only one thing to say to you kiddo: you got owned." Mephistomon turned around and laughed as he flew away.

That was until searing pain engulfed his body and replaced his laughing with cries of pain. A few thin spikes had penetrated the flesh of his back.

A dark, disembodied voice whispered to him. "Only one thing to say to you: yoink!" With that said an army of tentacles wrapped around Mephistomon's body, silencing him for good.

* * *

"Where are we?" Kari asked as she rubbed her eyes. She remembered entering some great hall, Tai walking to the middle of it… and then everything went blurry.

"We were attacked." Joe's voice could be heard from another place. "And we're in Machinedramon's prison."

"Oh I hate prisons." Mimi's complaints could be heard as well. "I'm claustrophobic!"

"Where are the digimon?" Kari asked as she got up and inspected her cell. Which was small, dark and closed off rather tightly.

"They're somewhere else." Joe said. "At least I hope so, as they're not here."

"How are we going to get out of here?" Mimi asked. "Joe? Can you blast your way out of here?"

"No." Joe answered and knocked on the bars. "I already tried to freeze the bars and break them out but all I got was a bruise on my shoulder."

"Kari? Can you slip between the bars?" Mimi tried. Perhaps she would be able to but she wasn't counting on it.

"No." Kari answered. "They're to close together and I'd get stuck with my wings too."

"So we're stuck, can't get out, can't blast our way out. We're also separated from our digimon." Mimi complained before noticing something. "Hey, where is Tai?"

"No clue. Either he's with the digimon or he escaped." Joe answered. "I prefer the later so he can save us. Else we might end up as Machinedramon's diner."

"So you're saying that the only way we'll get out is if Tai finds us?" Mimi asked. "We're doomed."

"Mimi." Joe started. "We're always doomed."

"Good point." Mimi admitted.

* * *

"You sure Tai escaped?" Kari asked as the hours went by. "Huh? What do you mean?" Joe knew that Tai wasn't with them when the poison had hit them. "I think something attacked him too." Kari said, trying to make sense of the blurry memory. "A blue flash of sorts."

"Yeah." Mimi said. "I remember something like that too." She had seen something burst from the floor just before she went out like a light.

"Don't worry." Joe said. "I'm sure that, no matter what happened Tai will pull himself together."

* * *

Meanwhile Tai was exhausted and disgusted with himself. He realised why SkullDigimon weren't loved or even tolerated.

He also realised why they were so hard to destroy. You see, every SkullDigimon has a build-in defence system. In the rare cases that they're defeated…

The parasite acts up.

It does a desperate attack as last resort.

Tai had unwillingly did this attack. Yet a part of his mind told him it was the right thing to do. To look out for number one.

He had attacked Mephistomon when his back was turned and… took over his body. No took over wasn't the right way of saying it.

He literally stole Mephistomon's body. Or his skeletal structure that is.

So now Tai was stuck with a new body. A somewhat new body. He was currently still puzzling himself together. A strange sight to behold indeed: a ribcage with one arm attached was sorting through the piles of bones, looking for anything useful.

He was able to salvage a few things. His head for example. He had no idea how he would have maintained his sanity without his funky hairdo. He also preferred not to look like a dead goat, which was what he would look like if he kept Mephistomon's head.

Another thing he managed to salvage was his tail and most of his spine. Tai was currently the owner of a tail nearly as long as he was. That added to the wings that belonged to Mephistomon made him look more like a dragon then a lizard. A dragon with a missile strapped to his back. (somewhat better description below at the end of the chapter)

"Sorry man." He said to the skull of Mephistomon. He was an enemy but no one deserved what happened to him. Tai dropped the skull on the pile of shattered bones and picked up his belt, with his digivice still on it and tied it around his neck. He did the same for his crest. The dark orange colour it had been emitting faded as he picked it up.

He then set his sights on the reason they even came here. The thing that may help him save his friends, wherever they may be.

"He called you Frostmourne, right?" Tai asked, as if the sword would answer him. "None the less, you're coming with me."

With that said, Tai wrapped his bony fingers around the sword again. He ignored the feelings of dread that the sword oozed and pulled it out of its icy prison.

"**Impressive. Not many can even dream of this"**A low tone of voice spoke

"Who said that?" Tai looked around, trying to locate the origin of the voice. Laughter was heard. **"I did." **The voice again.

"Who?"

"**ME! You numbskull!****" **Frostmourne pulsed, a dark blue aura surrounding it.

"Wow, a talking sword." Tai said. He had seen a lot of things but this was a new one.

"**A sword? Don't compare me to those pathetic pieces of metal you demons call weapons. I**** am Frostmourne! I am bound to the spirit of Ner'Zhul! I can lay waste to entire armies with one strike! My very presence chills the hearts of the gods themselves!"**

"I think you have a huge ego." Tai responded.

"**Such impudence." **Frostmourne complained. **"I miss Arthras. At least he respected me."**

"Who?" Tai asked, having no idea what the sword was going on about.

"**N****ever mind. But as I was saying: I am Frostmourne. And I will lay your enemies to waste if you feed me their souls." (1)**

"No way man." Tai said. "I don't plan on feeding you any souls."

"**Why not? You were rather eager to claim that other demons body, remember? So why not their souls?"**

Tai flinched at the mention of that. He truly felt bad about that, even if it was for his own survival.

"**Oh what the hell." **The sword sighed. "**"At least take me with you. I'll keep my soul eating to a minimum, but at least get me out of here!" **Hey, demonic swords get bored too you know.

"Okay then. But on one condition."

"**Name it."**

Tai drew the sword closer to his face. "No talking."

The sword didn't respond to that. "Good." Tai then lifted the sword up and brought it back down on top of the icy pedestal, smashing it into tiny bits.

"**Impressive." **Frostmourne commented at the display of strength the kid showed. Not everyone could shatter a piece of ice that big with one strike.

"No talking." Tai repeated. The sword pulsed in confirmation and remained silent. "Good." With that said Tai walked through the room, Frostmourne in hand and determined to find his friends and his sister, where ever they may be.

* * *

"So what's next?" Izzy asked, hovering close to the campfire. The desert may be scorching hot during the day, at night it was cooler then Matt's personality.

"We move on towards the rendezvous point. It's only been a few days but we slowed Machinedramon down enough." Matt said. According to one of the cronies Machinedramon had sent after them the big hunk of junk was counting on the source they destroyed.

"Didn't we blow that up?" Gabumon asked. "Indeed." Tentomon continued. "And what a fine explosion that was!" He and Gabumon high-fived as much as it was possible with a talon and a paw.

"Glad you enjoyed it." Sora said annoyed. "If I remember correctly you were screaming your lungs out when it went off." Sora pointed an accusing claw at the bug digimon. "Oh right." Tentomon sweatdropped.

"But we would meet them there right?" TK asked. "So how are we going to do that now?"

"He's right." Biyomon supplied. "That place is probably still under Machinedramon's guard, right?" The machine type digimon was a rather sore loser and was currently still looking for any energy he could salvage.

"Then we go into the city." Matt said. "Joe and Kari aren't dumb. Or at least Kari isn't. They'll know by the rather obvious smoke signal that we fought there." It was true. A pillar of smoke rose from the destroyed mountain, an obvious sign of battle for all to behold.

"Then towards the city we go!" Patamon yelled. "I wonder if it's anything like your world's city."

* * *

"Well this sucks." Agumon complained.

"We know." Gatomon grumbled. "So stop saying that."

The four of them were behinds bars as well, only they got their very own warden. SkullBaluchimon was watching their every move. Or at least they thought he was. You never know where his kind of digimon look at.

"So how are we going to get out of here?" Palmon asked. "I mean with creepy here, we ain't going nowhere." If SkullBaluchimon's feelings were hurt, he didn't show it.

"No clue." Gomamon said. "We can't digivolve without the others, we can't hope to defeat this hunk of bone and we most certainly can't count on him going back to his tomb."

"We need a miracle." Agumon said.

Nothing happened.

Agumon scraped his throat. "I said: we need a miracle!"

Still nothing.

"Odd." Agumon said. "It always works in the movies."

"Agumon, if there weren't bars between our cages, I'd bash your head in." Gatomon yelled, shaking her fist angrily at him.

Meanwhile, two hallways down.

'CRASH!'

"Anyone in here?" Tai asked as he stepped past the rubble he created through Frostmourne. "Nope nothing here either. On to the next one!" He said and went on to the next room.

"**Numbskull." **Frostmourne said to himself.

* * *

The thing I like about SkullGreymon is the fact that there isn't much known about him. So I gave him and Tai bad-ass puzzle powers, so he's able to put together a body out of spare parts, in this case his old body and the new one.

Description: Tai's old skeletal head, with the funky hair off course, on a somewhat more human torso. Bat-like wings stick out of his shoulder blades along with the three pins on the left and right side of his torso. Within the ribcage lies his heart and body, the parasite. Attached to his new spine is his old tail and part of his old spine, making it rather long. His hands are more humanoid, with clawless but more useful fingers. With some handiwork he also managed to put the missile he's known for on his back once more.

AN (1) I know, normally Frostmourne devours the user's soul but in this case I'm making an exception. Can't have Tai as a soulless husk, can we? 'laughs at zombie Tai'

Reviews

Depthmon: yes I killed him! 'sees tai walking around.' damnit…

Martiny the one and only still: all hail to warcraft 3! Also, for worse mental image: imagine Joe, with Frostmourne AND Arthras' armor!

Graypheonix: Damn you! How do people always figure out my awesome plots! 'Has no idea his plots are rather obvious'

SilverMau: he put himself together again, new and improved!

Super garurumon: Actually if you pierce Tai's parasite you kill him, as it is his core or something like that. Frostmourne FTW!

xRemi-!: All hail to the chicken gun! Maybe I'll give Joe the chicken gun. That would be hilarious!

Beth: no biggy, you reviewed this one. Next cliché? Don't know yet but it'll probably be something like this:

' "You killed my father!" Tai yelled, clutching the stump where once was a hand. "No." Piedmon spoke. "I am your father!"

Yup, something like that.

GRX3m0m: I don't play WoW, I just play Warcraft 3

anime25: A lot. 'Gets hit by chicken'

R&R people!


	18. Freedom!

Ronald owns nothing

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 18

Tai was used to being a hero. He had pulled quite a few heroic actions in his short career. You know, the usual: saving fair maidens, slaying demons the size of Belgium, dealing with an Elvis-wannabee.

But this was a new one.

"**Still nothing?" **Frostmourne asked, annoyance clear in its voice. Tai sighed. The damn blade just refused to shut up! So he just gave up trying to convince it to do so. Besides, at least now he had something to argue with, not that he'd ever admit it.

"No, still nothing." Tai admitted. "We've busted down like fifteen doors and none of them held my friends. You'd think that we'd get lucky after about five."

"**Well don't just stand there, and get back to work." **Frostmourne was hungry. Machinedramon had placed him inside that block of ice when he discovered that the blade was useless to him. And thus Frostmourne hadn't had a snack in years.

"You're not the boss of me." Tai said back to the sword, leaning against the blue, steel wall, right before another cross-section. "Do you even know how hard it is to wield a blade your size?"

"**Hmp, you should be honoured that you are even allowed to wield my awesome might! You do realise that hundreds of warriors tried and failed, succumbing to my might within the hour?" **If Frostmourne had eyes they'd be burning brightly now. **"You, my bony friend, are the first since Arthras to wield me! An honour only bestowed upon those that will lead the world into chaos!"**

"Chaos?" Tai glared at the sword. "We're trying to prevent that, remember?"

"**Come on, chaos is much more fun." **Frostmourne tempted. **"Just try it, come on."**

"No." Tai said firmly. **"Bloody goody two shoes." **It muttered.

"Can we go back to the part where you stay quiet?" Tai asked as he walked on though the base again, looking for a sign of his friends.

* * *

"So… anyone got out yet?" Joe tried.

"For the last time: NO!!!!!" Mimi yelled at the fishman. If she had a knife she would have cut him up and served him as sushi by now. He had been asking that question for hours now.

"You sure?" He tried again. Luckily for him the walls were made of steel, else Mimi would have clawed her way through the walls, just to wring his scaly neck.

"Positive Joe." Kari said. "These bars are just to strong."

"There just has to be a way to get out." Joe said to himself. "There just has to be a way." He repeated like a mantra.

"The only way is if Tai somehow stumbles upon this place, which considering his lack of orientation, will take a long time." Mimi said as she sat down on her bench again.

Meanwhile.

"Hang on my friends!" Tai yelled as he chopped into the steel doors, Frostmourne cutting through them like through butter.

"Are they here?" Tai asked as he stepped through the remains of a solid steel door.

"**Nope, linen closet again."**

"Damn, that's like the third one. What is it with evil masterminds and linen?" He asked the professional. **"It's better for you not to know."**

"Hate to say this but you're probably right." Tai admitted.

"**Young one, you'll soon realise that I'm right about everything." **A brief pause. **"And about the chaos thing we were talking about earlier." **The sword started, causing Tai to block out its voice once more.

* * *

"How long has it been?" Kari asked. "Hours upon hours…" Joe said weakly.

"Hey guys? What if. A big IF hopefully. But what if something happened to Tai?" Mimi asked. The thought had started forming in her mind after the first few hours they were trapped here.

"Let's hope not." Joe said.

"Don't worry, Tai will come to save us." Kari said, confidence in her brother never faltering.

"I know he will sweetie but he still might have been discovered by Machinedramon's lackeys." Mimi said, off course hoping she was wrong. "Then we could be stuck here forever."

"Not forever, just till Machinedramon kills us." Joe said now that he thought about it. He suddenly felt someone glare at him from behind a wall. "Did I say that out loud?"

Mimi stoped glaring and decided to just ignore Joe. "I don't want to know what would happen to Tai if he was captured by Machinedramon." She looked through the bars that held her cative. "Who knows what unimaginable torture he would be subjected too…"

* * *

…**and that is why you should plunge this world into a new era of infinite darkness and pain." **Frostmourne finished.

"You say something?" Tai looked at the sword, totally oblivious of the sword's rant about chaos and darkness.

"**Nothing." **Frostmourne grumbled.

* * *

"Okay that's it! Mimi yelled, imagining Tai strapped to a table with Machinedramon playing Operation on him, trying to score 200 points by taking out his funny bone... "I'm getting the hell out of here!"

"How?" Joe asked, a little surprised by the sudden fire in Mimi's tone of voice.

"No idea! But that key there might work!" She pointed at the key hanging from the wall, just out of their reach. Mimi yelled and tossed herself at the bars, only for them to stand their ground and stop Mimi's attempts to escape.

"Aaaagh!!" Mimi stood up and with a loud warrior princess yell she hit one bar again, only to fail again.

"Ouch." She said from the floor.

"Did it work?" Kari asked, wondering where the hell all that came from.

"I nicked the bar a bit, I think." Mimi said as she sat up. "And I broke a nail!" She whined.

"So no progress yet." Joe said. He too had noticed the key before but thought of it as mental torture. You know: it's there but you just can't reach it...

"Wait." Mimi suddenly said. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Joe asked, wondering what was going on.

Mimi looked at her hands. She could have sworn that a second earlier they were blood-red for some reason. Energy leaked off them.

"Joe? How do you use that ice power of yours?" Mimi suddenly asked.

"Eh what?" Joe was surprised by the odd question. "I don't know, I just focus on the thought of 'ice', get a burning in my throat and just exhale." He had some difficulty explaining it though, as it was more of a reflex now.

It wasn't much but Mimi could work with it. She focused but instead of on her throat like Joe did, she focused on her hands.

Moments later a red flash occurred and a shallow cut formed in the iron bars that held Mimi.

"I just found our ticket out of here." She said as a whip of red energy formed on her right hand.

* * *

Timeskip to morning.

"Are we there yet?" TK asked, the immense heat of the desert getting to him. Even though it was still early the desert warmed up rather quickly. "Almost, I think" Matt answered, though he wasn't quite sure. The shimmering image of the city seemed as far away as when they started heading towards it.

"Hopefully we'll get there by sundown." Izzy said. "The heat may be excruciating but the cold that comes with the night will be much worse."

"We know Izzy, we've slept outside a few times, remember?" Sora said. Izzy developed a nasty habit of telling them useless trivia.

"I know, I know." Izzy said. "I slept outside last night too you know."

"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" Biyomon asked. "It's morning and it won't stay this cool for long." Everyone stared at her, thinking she'd gone mad or something. "Plus, I'm hungry!"

They all were, a desert wasn't a good source of food. Unless you ate cacti (cactus). Or sand.

* * *

"You almost broke through?" Kari asked. Mimi was somehow able to cut through her bars. Kari suspected that she had some kind of power, like Joe or Matt but she had no idea what it was.

"Almost. I think." Mimi sounded truly exhausted, almost like she'd fall over anytime.

'thump'

As I said, anytime.

"Mimi, are you okay?" Joe asked.

"I'm fine, just need to rest my eyes a little bit…" Mimi had tired herself out all night, trying to cut through the bars. She had cut through the bars, breaking a few of them out. Now all she had to do was get to the key.

Tiredly she picked herself back up, ignoring the exhaustion she had forced her body into and climbed through the hole in the bars. She barely fit through but she made it to the other side. She took the key off of the wall and chucked it at Joe, who caught it with a serpentine grin on his face.

"Like I said before, I need to lay down a bit." Mimi slumped down to the ground.

"You do that." Kari supplied as Joe worked on unlocking his cell. "Okay…" Mimi slurred as she fell asleep.

* * *

"I spy… with my little eye… something that begins with B" Agumon said.

"Let me guess… bars?" Gomamon tried. "How did you know?" A defeated voice asked him.

"One of these days…" Gatomon twitched. They'd better escape here soon before she'd pulled an Itachi on Agumon. (Those who don't know, Itachi is a character from 'Naruto', who killed almost his entire clan. Gatomon plans to do the same to Agumon)

* * *

Tai was currently resting his eyes as well. As good as he could though, with the whole lack of eyelids. And eyes…

He had found shelter in another linen closet. He'd have to ask Machinedramon about them when they encountered each other.

He yawned, which was a terrifying sight to behold and got of the make-shift bed he made from the linen stored there.

"Good morning Frostmourne." He said to the sword. It was still in the place he left it, underneath a pile of towels. Tai figured that that might make it shut up.

Too bad it also pissed him off.

"**How dare you do that to me!" **Frostmourne yelled.** "If I weren't a sword, I'd wield one myself to learn you some respect!"**

"Sure you would." Tai rolled his non-existing eyes. "Let's just get going, okay?" Frostmourne muttered something as Tai opened the door again, heading out to find his captured friends.

* * *

Mimi woke up to the feel of something cold. It felt leathery too. No. Not leathery, more like scaly. She blinked a few times and saw that she was in motion. "What the?" She looked around.

"Finally awake?" Joe asked. Mimi nodded as she realised that Joe had been carrying her piggyback style.

"You gave us quite the scare when you passed out there." Joe admitted.

"But thanks to you we're free." Kari said. "Thank you."

"No problem." Mimi said. "But Joe? Could you put me down again?" Joe dropped her rather unceremoniously. "Sure!"

Mimi glared at him for the sudden drop but decided not to comment on it. "Where are we now?"

"Somewhere in Machinedramon's base." Joe said. "We've been looking for Tai in that room with the sword but he wasn't there."

"Only a pile of bones." Joe said. Mimi gasped. "And that sword was gone too."

"But what happened to Tai then?" Mimi asked, worried about her bony friend. "Beats me." Joe said. "He wasn't there, neither was his digivice. We've been following the signal it emits, which leads past all of these shattered doors."

"Or to Machinedramon's minions..." Mimi said. "Or that." Joe admitted. "Though I doubt anyone but Tai would be able to hold his digivice." He explained, thinking back of what the device did when other digimon would try to take it.

* * *

"What is this?" Kari asked. One door along the path of destruction wasn't destroyed. A few scratches on it but nothing else. "Weird." Mimi said, yawning as she spoke. She was still a bit under the weather. The little time she had to sleep didn't help much after her break out.

"Wanna find out?" Joe asked, looking at Kari. "Eh I doubt you can open it though. Look at those marks. If Tai was here and tried to open it, it seems that he failed." Mimi said, only for Joe to walk to the door and pull on the handle, easily opening it.

Mimi sweatdropped. "You were saying?" Joe smirked.

"It seems Tai has some problems with doors." Kari said as she looked at the other doors.

Meanwhile...

"Damn you door!!" Tai yelled as he swung Frostmourne at it. **"You do know that that is a sliding door?" **

"I knew that." Tai said quickly.

"**Idiot."**

* * *

Prison break Mimi style!

Finally! My computer works again! It was f'd up for a while but it's back online!

Reviews

Lord Pata: We both know that won't happen. Agumon keeping his mouth that is ;)

Super garurumon: sorry it took so long, busted computer is to blame

Martiny the one and only still: nah, that was just a joke. Though it would be funny.

Depthmon: 'wonders if he'll survive the night'

PrincessJaded: crazier you mean ^^ where the sword originally came from I don't know but some all powerful and bored digimon created some items from files they found on the internet and that's how Frostmourne, the Mask of Question and a few others appeared in the Digital World.

SilverMau: Glad you like it!

Beth: that could work 'writes it down' And i don't know where Doodle-chan ran off to. To the digital World perhaps?

Takari4ever3012: Yeah, I held a vote about it quite a few chapters ago. Plus she has the Crimson Lightning attack now

: here you go, one chapter 18 ;)

R&R people!


	19. Reunited

Ronald doesn't own it! Check AN below!

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 19

"Anyone here?" Tai tried again with a new door. He had lost count a long time ago, somewhere around 426 rooms, 30 of them linen closets!

"Finally!" Someone yelled. "Tai! Save me from these idiots!" Gatomon's voice. And from the sound of it she was close to snapping.

"You okay Gatomon?" Tai asked. Her jail was the first one he saw, right next to the door. "Do I look okay?" Gatomon's left eye twitched dangerously. "Tai!" Agumon yelled. "You're here to save us!"

"You leave him if you want." Gatomon tempted.

"Okay... I have no idea what has been going on here but we're getting the hell out of here." He pulled Frostmourne out from behind his back and slashed Gatomon's bars to pieces.

"Wow." Gatomon was amazed. Her Lightning Claw had absolutely no effect on those bars, yet Tai walks in and with one strike of his sword they're scrap metal.

Wait. Sword?

"Is that the sword you pulled out of the stone?" Gatomon asked as she stepped out of her cell. "Actually it was ice. If it were stone I'd be the king of England by now."

"Sure..." Gatomon said, getting a closer look at Tai now. "What's with the wings?"

"Let's say that I had an extreme make-over." Tai answered before he broke Palmon free from her prison.

"Eh? What's going 'yawn' on?" She asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. All this time she had been sleeping, thus missing out on the whole torture Agumon and Gomamon had put Gatomon through.

"I'm busting you out." Tai quickly said as he moved on to Agumon and Gomamon's cage.

"Wow Tai!" Agumon was amazed. "Did you digivolve or something?"

"Not really." Tai answered. He preferred not to talk about the event that took place in Machinedramon's safety deposit box.

Agumon, though not the sharpest tool in the shed, quickly picked up on the reluctance of his partner to speak. He decided not to go in on it.

"So can you fly?" Gomamon popped the question that was currently on everyone's tongue. "No clue." Tai answered. "I'll try when we get the hell out of here!" With that said he moved back through the door and into the hallway, four digimon in tow.

* * *

"What do you think is in here?" Kari asked, a tad nervous of what may await them within the chamber. The door was made from such strong material for a reason, right?

"We'll know once we go in." Joe said, a rare tone of bravery in his voice. Actually they became more frequent lately. But then again, they did tend to disappear rather quickly as well.

"Less talk, more entering." Mimi said as she walked through the open door.

Again, the cold blue steel that decorated most of the base was visible. The layout of this room was the same as the one containing the sword, only in a smaller scale. There even was an altar of sorts there with a big ornamental chest on it.

"What do you think it is?" Joe asked as he walked up to the altar.

"No clue." Mimi answered. "Hey there's a note!" She picked the note up and read it.

_Stay the hell away from this!_

_-signed: Machinedramon_

There was even a chibi Machinedramon drawn next to it, shaking its fist at them.

"Weird." Kari said as she hovered to look over Mimi's shoulder. "Why would he want us to stay away from it?"

"Who knows? I'm no evil mastermind." Mimi said, passing the note to Joe. "Hey look at the cute drawing!" Joe said as he read the note. Mimi and Kari both raised an eyebrow as they looked at him.

"You and me have another definition of 'cute' you know." Mimi said as she took the note from him again.

"Anyway, let's just open it already." Joe said once he was done glaring at her. He was getting impatient and worried. After all, their friends were still caged somewhere in this place. "Okay okay, keep your pants on Joe." Mimi looked at the fishman. "Or what's left of them anyway."

"Not funny." Joe sulked as Kari laughed. He quickly got over it and approached the chest. "Everyone ready?" Two nods were his answer. They had no idea what may lie in there so they should at least prepare a bit.

Joe put his back into it, lifting the lid a few centimetres...before it dropped down again. "Ouch." Was all he said as he slumped to the ground. "My back hurts."

Mimi sighed. "Men!" She walked up to the altar, shoved Joe's hurting form out of the way, a bit harder then one would expect from a (vampiric) girl like Mimi and proceeded to try her luck at the chest.

Joe was right to complain about the weight. Where Joe had lifted it a few centimetres, she could barely get it up one centimetre.

"Told you." Joe said from the floor.

* * *

"Why are we stopping here again?" Tai asked. He hadn't passed this room yet, the fact that the door was still in one piece was evidence of that.

"Because." Agumon started as he pushed the door open. "I knew it! This is the kitchen!"

Indeed, Agumon's nose hadn't betrayed him as they stepped into the base's kitchen. It was rather a rather nice view to see after all those linen closets.

"Do we really have to stop here?" Tai asked. His sister and friends were still in danger. "Hey, do you want us to fight Machinedramon or not?" Gomamon asked. "Because we can't without some food in our stomachs!"

"He's right you know." Gatomon said as she leapt onto a counter and looked through the closets. "We haven't eaten since yesterday, so we're starving." Tai had almost forgotten about the digimon's need for food. It had almost cost them their life before.

"Okay then, but hurry up." Tai answered. "The others are still counting on us to save them."

Meanwhile...

"Damn chest." Joe sighed. "Open up already!" He punched the chest, nearly broke his fingers and cried out in pain.

Mimi just sat in front of the thing, wondering what could be in it. "How about we just push it of the altar?" She suddenly asked. "Might open it up."

"Might make it explode as well." Joe said, nursing his swollen fingers. "Good point."

"What do you think Kari?" Mimi asked. She looked behind her to see the angel hold her hand to her chin in thought.

"We could try." She said.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen.

"Damn steak!" Gomamon muttered, trying to rip apart the piece of meat. "Hey Tai, mind using that butter knife on this?" Gomamon asked as he laid the steak down on the table.

"Sure!" Tai lifted the Rune blade above his head. **"Hey stop that! Pitiful mortal, put me down at once!"**

Off course Tai did so, bringing the sword down with a fell swipe.

Frostmourne cleaved Gomamon's steak in half, along with the table. "Oops?" Tai said, holding a hand to the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Cool." Gomamon said, fishing the two pieces out from within the rubble.

"**How dare you use me as such an ordinary utensil!" **

"What was that?" Palmon asked, nearly dropping her food as she heard the voice. It had complained before the strike but she thought she was just hearing things. "Oh right, forgot to mention that. The sword can talk." Tai held the sword up to them. "Everybody, this is Frostmourne, Frostmourne meet everybody."

"Cool." Agumon said. "Weird." Gatomon voiced her opinion.

"Nice to meet you! I think." Palmon said to the sword, not knowing if it heard her not.

"**Yeah yeah, ****whatever. Stand in my way and I'll eat your soul." **It muttered, absolutely not interested in meeting these new people.** "Just refrain from using me as a steak knife from now on, okay? I have standards you know." **He stopped talking, before his new wielder's companions decided to try and start up a conversation with him.

"Okay..." Agumon didn't really know what to think about that.

"He doesn't like us, does he?" Gatomon asked, pointing out the obvious. "Probably. Normally he won't stop talking." Tai said, placing the sword against the wall.

"Either he has a huge ego or he's nervous around new people." Gomamon laughed, signalling that he found the sword's blunt response rather humorous.

* * *

"Hey Agumon, throw me one of those apples, will you?" Tai pointed at a pile next to the rookie. Agumon picked one up and threw the spherical red object at Tai, who caught it with his free hand.

Everyone stopped eating and stared at Tai.

Because, by now, they had noticed that he was indeed a skeleton. Somewhat different from the day before this one, but still a skeleton.

Skeletons tend to lack the necessities to consume food, so this should prove to be an interesting experience.

Tai, oblivious to all stares just opened his mouth, revealing absolutely nothing but darkness in it and swallowed the apple whole.

"Always wanted to do that." He said, knowing that his mom would tell him to chew the food first.

Gomamon jumped off his chair and paddled over to Tai, trying to figure out where the hell the piece of fruit went to.

"What?" Tai asked as he noticed the looks they were giving him.

"Where did the apple go to?" Agumon popped the question. Tai just shrugged. "I dunno."

Meanwhile, in another dimension.

'_Bop'_

"YOSH! This youthful apple fell on my head!" A man in green spandex yelled from the top of his lungs. "How did that happen? There isn't an apple tree around for miles." Another man, wearing a flack jacket and a headband in front of his left eye said.

"I have absolutely no idea!!" Gai-sensei yelled.

Back in the Digital World.

"Wretched digidestined." Machinedramon spoke, his metallic voice carried across almost the entire desert. He had tried to salvage what was left of the digital energy but had come up empty handed.

"Back to the base." He said to his minions. "They must be halfway to the city by now." Even he could figure out that the digidestined wouldn't stick to the desert for long. Their weak, organic bodies can't handle the heat and drought.

"I'll find them and crush every bone in their body!" Machinedramon yelled out, causing his minions to stay back a bit. If the boss was pissed they were in almost as much danger as the boss' enemies.

* * *

"Whoa." Tai suddenly shuddered. "What's wrong?" Gatomon asked.

"Just felt a shiver go down my spine." Tai answered. "True, just saw it go all the way to the tip of your tail." Gomamon joked, motioning a claw to the tip of Tai's tail.

Tai whacked him with said tail, not too hard of course. "I think something's up. Lunch break's over."

With that said the digimon grumbled and complied after a few minutes, as Palmon and Agumon had the idea of getting food for the others. (And possibly snack on the way to them)

"Okay but you're holding the bag." Tai had answered as they 'borrowed' some more food from the mechanical warlord. It's not like he'd miss it, would he?

* * *

It had worked! One good shove from all three of them send the heavy chest toppling over, spilling its content onto the floor with a loud crash.

"So what is it?" Kari asked, curious about whatever it contained.

"It's a...thing?" Joe tried as he walked over to the fallen chest.

"Smart Joe." Mimi said sarcastically. "Real smart. Obviously it's a... what the hell is that?"

* * *

Machinedramon's threats were audible across the desert. The machine knew quite a few curse words and wasn't afraid to use them.

"You hear that?" Tentomon asked, hoping that he just imagined it. "Unfortunately yes." Gabumon wiped the sweat of his brow. "We should make haste."

"Else we'll end up as Machinedramon's dinner." Matt said, looking to the city that was their destination. "If we pick up the pace we can make it before nightfall."

"Onward then!" Patamon yelled out as he flew off, only to drop down again. "Too hot to be enthusiastic." He muttered as TK picked him up.

Omake (of sorts)

We find Joe, Kari and Mimi right where we left them.

"They're some kind of boots. I think." Joe said, lifting one up. "Not really my style." Mimi said. "They're yours Joe."

"Gee thanks." Joe rolled his eyes but did sat down to put them on. Surprisingly they fit rather well on his webbed feet.

"Hey what's this?" Kari asked as she picked up a remote of sorts. The display read '**10% power. Ready for use.'**

And then there was the BIG RED BUTTON under that. 'Must... not... press... button!' Kari thought.

"Oh what the hell!" Kari slammed her hand on the tempting button.

Joe stood there when suddenly his boots caught on fire and propelled him into the air, quickly slamming him into the wall behind them with a loud metallic 'clank'

"Oops?" Kari said as she put the remote down again. With that done, Joe dropped to the ground as well. "Ouch." He muttered weakly.

"Me next!" Mimi yelled.

Lol! Thought of that when I watched Iron Man last night. I don't own Iron Man, except the DVD off course.

**And I have some bad news for my fans!**

**I'm in my last year, which means I'll have to work on my project. Which means I won't be able to update very frequently. :(**

'**Sees army of angry fans'**

**Eh! But I'll still get an update in for Spirits of Ages sometime next week. But after that...**

Reviews

Depthmon: glad you like it.

: Glad you like it and about your question: I did it for two reasons: 1 because I could! 2: Because I held a poll about what she should become. Majority chose female Myotismon/ ladyDevimon, so she became that ;)

PrincessJaded: indeed, craziness follows where ever the digidestined go ^^

Aster Selene: Indeed, Tai'll drive Frostmourne crazy sooner or later wth it

Martiny the one and only still: glad you like my Frostmourne jokes ;)

ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous: The same! And luckily Tai averted a disaster here. Else we might get an avenger 'wiggles eyebrows'

Super garurumon: Oh he will. Heck, even I want to know!

Sunny Lighter: Will do!

SilverMau: very nice!

doodle-chan: 'throws cookie' Glad you're back. Tai got the sword a chapter or two ago (too lazy to check it) alongside with some funky wings! Also: Itachi rules! He's like my second favorite character in the manga, only second to Chouji! (Chouji rules!)

GRX3m0m: thanks!

xReminiscence-: indeed! 'sees Mimi run by with a ball and chiain on her leg' What the hell?

Beth: apparently not ;)

Takari4ever3012: It's going to be a somewhat Michi. It's more a comfort thing though.


	20. Eightlegged freaks!

Ronald owns nothing, except an irrational fear of spiders. we share a love-hate relationship. I hate them, they love me...

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 20

"What do you think it is?" Kari asked. She was rather curious as of why it was being kept in a chest like this.

"It's a weapon of sorts..." Joe said. He walked over to it and picked it up. "I'll keep it with me. Might come in handy."

"Sure." Mimi said. "But we wasted enough time here, so let's go find Tai and our digimon!"

And so did the trio follow the trail of shattered doors through out Machinedramon's lair.

* * *

"We made it!" TK yelled as he landed on the asphalt of Machinedramon's city. "Thank god! Civilisation!" Izzy yelled as he all but bend over and kissed the ground.

"Keep quiet." Matt said as he and Gabumon walked into the city, seeing as they were the only non-flight digimon/hybrids. "This is still Machinedramon's domain. He may not be here but his cronies are."

"Right." Izzy said, looking around the city. As far as he could see it was deserted. "Me and Tentomon will go check for someplace safe, okay?" Bug boy said as he spread his wings and flew off, with Tentomon in tow.

"You think there is even any safe haven here?" Tentomon asked. "It's not like they weren't expecting us."

"Relax tentomon." Izzy said, flying a bit higher then the insect digimon. "We just need to find any place where I can plug this." He motioned one hand to the laptop in his arms. "In and then I may be able to find the others."

"How is that?" Tentomon asked as hey landed at a small apartment building. "Well you know that map Gennai gave me?" Tentomon nodded. "If I were to hack Machinedramon's computer network I may be able to use his own sensors to locate large masses of Digital Energy, a.k.a. our friends."

"If you say so." Tentomon said. "Trust me." Izzy said as he booted up his laptop. "This will work, just go and get Matt, TK and Sora over here."

With that said Tentomon returned to the rest of their small party and escorted them to Izzy's hideout.

* * *

"Eh sir?" A Mekanorimon said to his master. "What?" The robotic soldier shuddered. No one but the boss was able to lace a single word with so much malice.

"Eh..." Mekanorimon was at a loss of words but quickly regained his composure. "A message from the base. Apparently someone is trying to hack our computer network. We have reasons to believe that the humanoids are behind this."

"You mean to say that the digidestined are leeching off of MY network?" The boss was surprisingly calm about this news.

"Eh yes sir." Mekanorimon said, the still biological part of him starting to sweat.

"I hate bad news." Machinedramon said, still rather calm. Mekanorimon let out a breath of relief. For a moment he thought he was a goner.

A sudden flash of metal and the steel soldier fell apart into two perfectly cut pieces. "You!" Machinedramon pointed at another Mekanorimon, who just 'eep'ed as the hand of death suddenly was aimed at him.

"Contact the base." Machinedramon's voice was starting to sound more and more vicious as he thought of a plan.

"Tell them to use the network to locate the digidestined. Send the Metal Empire Army after them."

"Yes sir!" Mekanorimon number two yelled out and ran off quickly, before his boss decide to cut him up as well.

* * *

Back in the city.

"As you can see..." Izzy pointed at the screen. "The city itself doesn't seem to show much digital activity."

"What's this stain here then?" Biyomon asked, as she pointed at a yellow smudge on a green map.

"That's us." Izzy said. "I've been thinking about this for a while but I haven't really had a chance to test it but I believe that we ourselves broadcast some Digital Energy as well, because it affected us like this. Kind of like radiation, its influence never really leaves us." Izzy said as he adjusted his webcam a bit.

"What's up with the camera?" Gabumon asked, doing his best not to look into the lens, as you're not supposed too when shooting a film.

"Research." Izzy said. "I'm documenting this all for future generations. So I'll need all of you to cooperate a bit later on, okay?"

"Cooperate on what?" Sora asked. "I'll tell you later, okay? This comes first." Izzy claimed as he began typing on his keyboard again.

"Now as I was saying, here are we." He pointed at the screen. "And here are, possibly, our friends." He pointed at the screen, at a location all across town.

"So that's where we need to go?" Matt asked.

"Not exactly?" Izzy said. He would have frowned if he was able to.

"How come?" Biyomon asked.

"I can tell you that they're probably there, but the signal is rather weak, so it could be that they are underground." Izzy said.

"Could be." Matt said. "But we'll burn that bridge when we cross it."

"He's right." Sora said. "First let's concentrate on getting-

She was cut off by a huge explosion that rocked the entire building, causing windows to shatter.

"What's going on?" Patamon yelled. "Earthquake!" TK yelled out, wrapping his wings around him as a defensive action.

"It's not an earthquake!" Matt yelled. "Look!" Out of one of the shattered windows he could see a duo of dragon like creatures, nuking the area in which they were.

"We have to get out of here!" Sora yelled, grabbing a hold of Matt. "Hang on tight!" She said as she jumped out the window.

Biyomon did the same for Gabumon and flew through the window, with TK, Patamon, Tentomon and Izzy behind her, though that last one took a bit longer so he could disconnect his laptop.

"We lost them." A Hagurumon said to another as the red bleep on the map suddenly disappeared. "The boss won't like this."

"I suggest that we don't tell him." The first one said. "They're bound to try it again."

"Did we get them?" Megadramon asked, flying close to the debris, looking for signs of their victims. "Afraid not brother. No traces of them can be found." Gigadramon said as he soared across the ruins. "But we'll get to destroy them sooner or later."

* * *

"Everyone okay?" TK asked, making sure no one was hurt after that attack. They had crash-landed in a small ally between buildings.

"We're fine." Sora said. "Just a bit dazed."

"And singed." Biyomon complained as she tried to straighten her half burned feathers.

"How did they find us that quickly?" Matt asked no one in particular.

"They must have spotted us when we first entered the city." Izzy concluded.

"Probably." Tentomon added. "But can we please just go and find the others?" The bug digimon did his best not to freak out but was failing rather miserably.

"Sure thing." Matt said, trying not to wag his tail a bit at the prospect of seeing his other teammates again. After all, he had an image to uphold.

* * *

"Did you all hear that?" Tai asked, looking at his friend's digimon.

"The explosion?" Gomamon asked. "Nope, didn't hear a thing."

"Funny." Tai said. "But we're underground and you do know what will happen if explosions happen up there?"

"Eh..." Agumon tried. "We'll be absolutely and totally safe because they happen up there?"

"Not really. Try: getting crushed into a pulp by falling debris when everything around us collapses." This caused the digimon to sweatdrop.

"Then I think we should make like a leaf and get the hell out of here!" Palmon said, accidently messing up the human saying.

"Indeed." Tai answered. "But we have to make sure Kari and the others are safe first. They have to be here somewhere."

* * *

"Hey Joe?"

"What?" Joe asked, not looking back to meet Mimi's gaze.

"Do you ever get that feeling that you're being watched?"

"All the time! Especially in the bathroom. I don't know why but..." At this moment Mimi decided to shut him up before she learned something about Joe that she didn't want to know.

"No I mean, right now." Mimi said.

"Right now? No, not really. You Kari?" Joe asked the angel walking next to him.

"Not really, how about them?" Kari said, fear noticeable in her voice. You could see her shiver, all eight of her wings showed it as a few feathers dropped off of them.

"Them?" Mimi turned pale... paler that is.

"Oh no!" Joe yelled, waving his arms about. "I'm so sick of that cliché. We turn around, see an immense mass of monsters, most likely scream and run like hell."

"Eh Joe? Would you mind if it's a variation of that cliché?" Mimi asked, pointing upward.

There hung an entire nest, sixty-seventy perhaps, of Dokugumon.

"Yes. I would mind." Joe's tail drooped to the ground.

"Can we just skip to the last part of the cliché and run? " Mimi continued as five of the spiderlike digimon dropped from the ceiling.

"Yes!" Joe yelled, grabbing the thing they found in the last chamber and ran, with Mimi right on his tail. It took Mimi a split second to realise that Kari was frozen up.

"Come on!" She grabbed Kari's wrist and pulled her along. Kari was still frozen up, terrified by the huge amount of arachnoids coming their way.

"Come on! Come on come on!" Joe urged the two of them to hurry things up. The Dokugumon's snapping jaws didn't exactly help his mental state but it did urge his webbed feet to work overtime.

* * *

"You hear that?" Agumon asked, straining his tiny ears a bit.

"What, more explosions?" Gomamon complained.

"No." Agumon said, pressing his head against the wall left of him. "Like many legs walking around in the corridor..." He did his best to pinpoint the sound.

"No, it's below us!" He yelled out, half in amazement, half in shock.

"I hear something too." Gatomon said. Her ears were much more accurate then Agumon's.

"What do you think it is?" Tai asked, grasping Frostmourne's handle just a little bit thighter.

"Sounds like clicking. Dokugumon?" Palmon asked herself as she too focused on the sound.

"Anyone here speak Dokugumon?" Tai asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Nope, but they're chasing something." Agumon said seriously. "Tai." He turned to his partner. "I think they found our friends before we did."

"Kari." Tai said softly. "She's deadly afraid of spiders. Where are they heading?" Tai's gaze turned to Gatomon. "Follow me!" Gatomon yelled, running through the steel plated hallway with her companions in tow.

* * *

"Oh great. A dead end." Joe complained. Actually it wasn't a dead end. They had just stumbled up on a really, really big room, with the only two doors being the ones they just came through and the ones that were on the other side. The problem was that these doors were up much higher and only accessible by two pairs of stairs close to their side of the room.

But the Dokugumon quickly sealed off those stairs by blocking them as soon as they entered the room.

"Oh I hate spiders." Mimi yelled, pulling a shivering Kari closer to her. Kari was still too scared too move on her own. Being an eight year old with arachnophobia will do that to you.

Joe didn't see any other way then too fight their way out as the spiders surrounded them. But with Kari frozen up, an exhausted Mimi and no digimon it was all up to him.

"Mimi! Look after Kari!" He pulled out the weapon they found in Machinedramon's 'hidden' room.

It was by all means a weapon. It looked a lot like the stereotypical mini gun, with six barrels, connected together with two steel rings, one at the beginning, one at the end. One difference though was the whole thing looked like a dragon's head, with the barrel coming out of its mouth.

"Let's see if this thing packs some punch!" Joe yelled, pulling the trigger.

"Bawk?"

All the Dokugumon and Joe sweat-dropped.

"Bawk?" The sound was heard again. Suddenly a chicken's head popped out of one of the six barrels.

"What the hell?" Joe exclaimed. "Is that a chicken?" He asked, not really suspecting an answer from anyone, neither the spiders or the chicken.

"Anyway..." The Dokugumon were still too shocked to move, so this was his chance to strike!

He pulled the trigger again, the barrel began to rotate and out flew a barrage of chickens!

"This is one of the most f'd up days ever!" Joe yelled as he fired off more chickens.

But it was no use...

The projectiles had absolutely no effect on the Dokugumon. Hell, the only thing the chicken bullets served as were appetisers for the arachnids.

"Useless!" Joe yelled as his last chicken was consumed. He threw the gun to the ground, cracking it. "Okay Joe take it easy." He said to himself. "It's just you against a whole lot of spiders... no big deal right?"

One Dokugumon came too close and grabbed a hold of Mimi, pulling both her and Kari away. "Joe!" Mimi cried as she was carried of by the spiders.

Joe himself was currently having a breakdown.

'I can't do this.' His own voice echoed in his mind. 'There's just too many of them.' The Dokugumon swarmed him, intend on eating him on the spot.

'_I'm going to make sure the sun does come up!'_

That thought came to mind. 'Poor Shin. Poor Shuu' He thought as he felt dozens of hairy hands clawing at him. 'Forever trapped in darkness, just because I'm not strong enough...'

'NO!' His own voice yelled, loud and clear. 'I promised them. I promised them all!'

Silver light escaped from the dog pile that surrounded Joe, energy just radiating through every opening between the mass of limbs as Joe gathered up all of the strength he could muster.

"I'm going to make darn sure the sun comes up!" The Dokugumon were flung away as Joe forced them away, on sheer willpower, inner strength and the data he started to absorb from the File's artefact.

"Joe!" Mimi yelled as she saw the light her teammate radiated before she was almost crushed by the mass of Dokugumon trying to get away from what seemed to them like a tasty morsel.

"Lightning Javelin!"

* * *

Long time sine I did a cliff-hanger like this.

Also, don't take the chicken gun thing to serious, I just wanted it in the story for some reason but it probably won't appear again.

Some thing I noticed during Christmas exams. You start doing strange stuff. A few examples: I survived three days on nothing but diet soda and peanuts, I tried to dissect my electrics homework and I gave my guitar a name. 'pulls out guitar' His name is Jonathon.

* * *

Also: a sort of omake, inspired by the reviews of xReminiscence- and doodle-chan

"Wow Tai, what's up with all the apples?" Agumon asked as Tai ate another one whole. "That's like the twelfth this day."

"I don't know." Tai said honestly. "Just got a sudden craving for apples."

"I don't think that's healthy." Agumon warned him.

"Don't listen to him!" A voice called from within Tai's mouth. "Keep them apples coming!"

"I didn't know you were a ventriloquist." Agumon said, scratching his head as he tried to figure out how Tai did that.

"Me neither." Tai said as he grabbed another apple. "But I'm not one to disagree with disembodied voices."

Meanwhile in another dimension. "Ryuk? What the hell are you doing?" Light Yagami asked as he saw the Shinigami leer at the deathnote.

"Watch." Ryuk instructed. Suddenly an apple popped up out of the death note, which Ryuk promptly grabbed and consumed.

"Okay…I kill people with that book, there's an angel of death here and still…that's the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

**There you have it folks, Tai's mouth is a gateway to several dimensions :)**

* * *

Reviews.

Depthmon: I already send you this through PM but other can know too: I'm in my final year of Electricity. And I care! 'hmp's and turns around'

Aster Selene: Not really, all the powers of the Lich King and he slices steak with it. I'm surprised it didn't turn into an undead steak ;)

Super garurumon: thank you and yes. There's something about big red buttons. At moments I can't help myself and press them. And I pick on Joe only because he's my favorite character. Besides, he'll do something badass next chapter.

PrincessJaded: all of them back together? Not really sure, somewhere in two, maybe three chapters, though it may be longer, depending on my inspiration. But definitely two chapters at least

SilverMau: indeed they do, unfortunetly… But where did you get the idea I would abandon this fic? I'd never abandon this one, SoA. Those have a special place in my heart, right next to all that cholesterol. 'sarcastic laughing is heard'

Beth: really? Didn't know that, but I do now! And about that pairing… well let's just say it's a good thing my inner fanboy is locked up rather well. Otherwise this fic might have ended that way 'shudders' better make sure those locks hold!

doodle-chan: you inspired me to write that omake. For some reason you really did, along with xReminiscence- and yes, Tai has wings now, too lazy to check which chapter though. Itachi!!! His death sucked! And have you read chapter 430? That was messed up!

xReminiscence-: part two of my inspiration. Thanks to you I might add some more dimensional portal induced omakes! Thank you!

GRX3m0m: thanks

Amiru-chan: it's just random, really I just wanted too put a Gai-sensei bit in my fanfiction but I can't write a NAruto fic to save my life, so I just put it here.

Takari4ever3012: Don't be, it's not like I'm gone forever. Just till that project is done my updates will be a bit slower.

Martiny the one and only still: Ahh Warcraft 3. It's been way too long since I played it myself. 'goes and installs it again'

R&R people and make a good year of 2009!!


	21. Thunderstruck

Still not mine! I want to own digimon... 'sulks in corner'

* * *

Beyond humanity

Chapter 21

"Lightning Javelin!" Joe's cry echoed through the room as an arc of lightning jumped from his hands, electrocuting the Dokugumon surrounding him. It took Joe a second or two to realize just what had happened.

Luckily for him the Dokugumon stopped moving as well as they saw the crimson lizard standing there, sparks of electricity flowing over his hands.

"Wicked." Joe said in awe, before turning to the enemies surrounding Mimi and Kari. With newfound precision he fired a lightning blast at them, turning the pile of spiderlike digimon into dust and leaving Mimi and her protégé unscathed.

"Wow." Mimi said as she too realized what had just happened. "Are you okay?" Joe asked.

"We're fine, thank you." Mimi said as she looked down to make sure Kari was still in her arms.

"Don't thank me yet." Joe said as he dodged a swipe from a pissed off Dokugumon. "There's still about a million more of these guys."

"Attack! Overwhelm him!" The apparent leader yelled, realizing that the only way they'd win was by overwhelming Joe with their sheer numbers, even though they had just been reduced by at least a dozen.

One of the spiders jumped at Joe. Joe had to bend in a near impossible way to dodge the poisonous fangs that were aimed at his neck, only for him to have to turn around to dodge another pair of wickedly sharp claws, courtesy of the Dokugumon that snuck up to him from behind.

"I can't keep this up!" Joe yelled, firing thunderbolt after thunderbolt at the spiders, destroying some but only scaring off most of them. Unfortunately those quickly regained their courage and tried for another swipe.

* * *

Meanwhile, one floor above them

"Do you guys hear that?" Gatomon asked. "Hear what?" Tai asked, looking around him to find any potential source of sound. The linen closet they just left probably wasn't it.

"The Dokugumon dummy!" Gatomon yelled, kneeling down and pressing her ears to the ground. "They're right below us now. They stopped moving" Gatomon said. "I think they cornered our friends."

"Right below us?" Tai asked, getting a nod from Gatomon. "Good." He turned to the blade in his hands. "Think you can cut through the floor?"

"**You just don't get it, do you?" **The sword asked angrily.** "I AM FROSTMOURNE!!"**

"Sure you are." Tai rolled his inexistent eyes and plunged the sword into the floor. With one fierce slash he ripped open the steel plates that made up the floor, tearing them apart as if they were made of tissues.

Joe and most of the Dokugumon looked up when the heard the shrieking noise that steel made when being cut open. The red fish man hadn't expected to see a huge knife cutting up the ceiling but there it was. Perhaps Tai or maybe even Matt had found some kind of mythical Swiss army knife?

After all, he had found a gun that fired life chickens, so why not a can opener the size of a surfboard?

Tai wrung the sword around, making an opening big enough for him to fit through, before pulling Frostmourne out of the floor again. "Joe!" He yelled as he saw the Megaseadramon hybrid stand below them. It didn't take him long to recognize Joe. After all, who else would look like a huge sea serpent with limbs?

"Tai? Is that you?" Joe looked up to see a skeleton peeking through a hole in the roof. "Oh man you don't know how glad I am to see you!" Joe dodged another swipe of a Dokugumon. "Mind lending a hand?"

"No problem Joe!" Gomamon yelled. "How the hell are we going to get down there?" Tai asked. "We can't exactly go looking for a staircase."

"Simple Tai, you fly down there!" Gomamon said, pointing at the wing like extensions. "Oh hell no!" Tai yelled, backing away from the seal. "I can't fly! I've never flown before!"

"Sure you can." Agumon said. "I have utmost faith in you!"

"Maybe you do but I don't!" Tai flailed his arms around. "Come on, it's easy!" Agumon said, flapping his arms up and down, as if they were wings. Off course that didn't do much for Tai.

Gomamon sighed and whispered to Gatomon. "Looks like it's time to play mama-bird." Before Gatomon could ask what he meant by that, he paddled off.

Gomamon calmly dodged Tai's flailing arms and tail, stood behind Tai and gave him a good shove, sending Tai spiraling down to the ground, screaming all the way.

Gatomon, Agumon and Palmon sweatdropped. "That usually works." Gomamon raised his paws in defence.

"Not this time." Palmon stated bluntly.

* * *

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhh!!" Tai yelled from the top of his 'lungs' as he spiraled down to meet a floor made up almost entirely of Spider digimon.

"Time to make yourself useful." Tai said inwardly to his wings, trying to find out whatever it was that made them move.

About five meters above the ground Tai managed to spread his wings, and somewhat cushion his blow. Still hurt like hell though…

"Ouch." Tai whined as he picked himself off of the floor. "You okay Tai?" Joe asked, before sending a thundershock at a Dokugumon that tried to attack Tai from behind.

"I'm okay." Tai said, before slamming his sword into a Dokugumon. "I landed on something soft."

"Ouch." The leader Dokugumon complained from the floor. Tai had crushed him nicely into a pancake.

"What the hell happened to you?" Joe asked as he flash fried another Dokugumon, leaving it there to burn out. "I can ask you the same thing!" Tai yelled as he brought down Frostmourne's wrath upon yet another Dokugumon's head.

"But let's save the small talk for later!" Tai yelled as a Dokugumon sunk its fangs into Tai's right arm, only for them to chip and break off. "Not so tasty, am I?" Tai mocked the spider, who was now flat-out on his back.

"Just how many of them are there?" Tai asked, standing back to back with Joe. "No idea, I lost count around seventy." The mass of spiders had grown considerably since they first encountered it.

"Damn. Hey guys! We could use a hand!" Tai yelled up at the hole. "Working on it!" Gomamon yelled as Palmon suddenly dropped through the hole. Tai sweat dropped, thinking they had thrown her through the hole as well.

Surprise and a bit of anger filled him as he suddenly saw her fingernails extend into thick purple vines, grasping at whatever she could grab on to. A moment or two later she was down on the floor, with Agumon and Gomamon sliding down the vines after her. Gatomon just jumped down on her own, landing on all four feet.

"Couldn't you have lowered me like that as well?!" Tai had a tick mark above his eye as he swung Frostmourne around dangerously.

"Hey! It was a spur of the moment thing." Gomamon waved Tai off and turned around. "Get over it."

"One of these days." Tai swore. "**I'd offer to eat his soul but I don't eat the sarcastic ones."** Frostmourne stated. **"They leave a rather nasty aftertaste."**

"Did that thing just talk?" Joe asked, looking warily at the sword.

"Explain later!" Tai yelled as a wall of Dokugumon almost crashed down upon the two of them. "Oh hell no!" Gomamon yelled, glowing gold in colour all of a sudden.

"Gomamon digivolves to... Ikkakumon!"

Palmon, Agumon and Gatomon quickly followed his example.

"Gatomon digivolves to... Angewomon!"

"Palmon digivolves to... Togemon!"

"Agumon warp digivolves to..."

Soon the massive forms of Togemon, Ikkakumon and Angewomon towered over the Dokugumon.

Ikkakumon immediately moved forward and rammed into the wall of spiders that was heading towards Tai and Joe. The wall immediately fell apart once Ikkakumon used his massive body to break down the foundation of said crawling wall.

"Joe! Where's Kari?" Angewomon looked around frantically. She had promised something to herself and that was to protect Kari as long as she could. For the moment she wasn't exactly keeping that promise.

"There!" Joe yelled, pointing at Mimi. Apparently the Dokugumon had learned something: touch the girls and get vaporised by an angry Joe. So they decided to avoid her and take down Joe first.

Angewomon immediately took to the air and lifted Mimi and Kari away from the swarm, taking them to the walls of the room, where no Dokugumon were.

Meanwhile Tai was trying to get closer to Agumon. For some reason, he hadn't digivolved to WarGreymon. He just stood there, a silver shell around him. As if he was trapped inside an egg of sorts.

"Agumon!" Tai yelled, doing his best to get closer to the egg. "Can you hear me?" A strong gust of wind formed around the dome, shredding the floor underneath them and sending shrapnel flying. Tai instinctively shielded his face but he pushed forward.

"There's something going on with Agumon!" Togemon yelled, squishing a spider that crawled on one of the walls, leaving a nice stain there.

"No, really?" Ikkakumon said, acting all surprised. You'd have to be blind, not to notice such an obvious thing.

Tai continued to struggle. He fought against the shredding gusts coming off of Agumon's shell.

"Agumon!" He threw himself forward, desperate to find out what the hell was going on with his friend, desperate to reach to his friend. After all, he had always been there for him, hadn't he? Time to return the favor.

Almost immediately, as Tai's hand came in contact with the dome it popped, like a soap bubble. The wind died down and the airborne shrapnel fell back to the ground.

A silver shape stepped out of the crater that had formed.

"What happened?" Mimi asked, opening her eyes just a little bit to see what all the commotion was about.

"He digivolved." Angewomon stated.

"But into what?" Togemon asked.

"BlackWarGreymon!" The light disappeared, showing the new custom paintjob that Agumon had. Where the old-fashioned WarGreymon had orange skin and yellow armour, this one was coloured a deep midnight black colour, with black armour. The crest of courage still adorned his split shield, only now it looked as if it had been carved into the steel before liquid silver had been poured into it.

"What happened to you?" Tai asked.

"I have no idea." BlackWarGreymon spoke, his gruff voice sounding throughout the entire room. "Something... It almost felt as if my digital code was being deleted as I digivolved." He said. "But then something happened. I returned to the light and became like this."

"But enough of that!" He yelled, grinding his claws against each other, scaring off the less courageous Dokugumon. "It's showtime!"

BlackWarGreymon crouched down, preparing to jump toward the ceiling, staying put about a meter under the rip that Tai made.

"Terra destroyer!" His twin claws held above his head he started the process of collecting negative energy, which was surprisingly easy, seeing the condition the digital world was in.

BlackWarGreymon tossed the huge ball of negative energy at the Dokugumon.

Now at this point, even the most stupid of them Dokugumon managed one thought. 'Oh f***'

That was the last thing that went through their minds as they were wiped off of the face of the Digital world.

"Run like hell!" One of the few survivors yelled. Though Dokugumon are very stubborn, they still know when they should act like a tree and get the hell out of there!

"That... that was kinda cool." Ikkakumon said as the Dokugumon fled. "How deep do you think that bowling ball from hell went?" He pointed a paw at the hole that BlackWarGreymon had made with his ultimate attack.

"No idea." Tai said. "But I hope it took a lot of linen closets with it." Oh linen closet, how I loathe thee!

"Don't you think that all went a bit too fast? I wanted to knock the lights out of a few more of them! Give them the old one-two." Togemon practiced her jabs against her own shadow. Fly like a Flymon, sting like a Togemon indeed...

"Joe, where's Kari?" Tai had obviously not forgotten about his baby sister. While he may not have acted like it earlier, he was worried sick. But the best way to help her then, was to kick major Dokugumon thorax.

"She's right here." Mimi said softly. Tai immediately rushed over to the wall where she, Kari and Angewomon stood.

"Is she okay?" He asked as he tossed Frostmourne to the ground, getting a few curse words from the spirit inhabiting the blade.

"I think so." Mimi said, looking down at the angelic girl that had latched on to her. "She was just so scared." She softly stroked Kari's hair.

"Can I...?" Tai asked, desperate to hold his baby sister in his arms, only then he'd be 100 percent sure she was safe.

Mimi nodded, taking Kari's arms out from around her and lifted the light girl up to hand her to her brother. Almost immediately Kari latched on to her brother, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"She's so afraid of spiders." Tai explained. "I think it all started with that huge eight legged thing that crawled on her teddy bear when she was two." Tai laughed a bit nervously. He was just glad to have his sister with him again. After all, he was her big brother. He was supposed to be around to protect her from stuff like this.

"Thank you." Tai said. "For protecting her."

"Oh it's nothing." Mimi blushed, which was rather visible on her pale skin.

"Tai?" A soft whisper was heard. "Is it really you?"

"It's me all right." Tai said to his little sister. "I was so scared." Kari whispered. "It's all right, I'm here now."

"Mimi saved me back there." Kari said, looking up at her brother. "I know, and I don't know how I can ever repay her for that."

"Oh there's no need...

"Buy her diner!" Ikkakumon yelled, interrupting a beautiful moment, earning him gazes from all digimon. "What? You know that those two would take ages to get together. I'm just playing matchmaker."

"That would be nice actually." Mimi said softly.

* * *

Meanwhile on the digimon side of the room.

"This almost like those soaps Mimi always watches in the human world." Togemon said. "Anyone bring popcorn?"

"So this turned into a soap? Shouldn't we watch out for Tai's evil twin brother or something like that?" BlackWarGreymon asked himself. "You know, with the evil moustache and all?"

"No that already happened in season 3 eh I mean Puppetmon's forest." Angewomon said.

"Oh right." BlackWarGreymon remembered.

"I can't believe it." Joe slumped to the floor. "Barely two weeks in the real world and you're all corrupted."

"Cheer up Joe, could have been worse." Ikkakumon said, scrapping Joe off of the floor with his horn. "How?" Joe asked, hanging from Ikkakumon's horn.

"We could all have been watching American idol." Ikkakumon stated bluntly.

"Good point." Joe said, allowing himself to slip of Ikkakumon's horn and onto the floor.

"Let's get going." Tai said, his plans to take Mimi out when they returned home somewhat solid. "We all need some place to rest." Kari had already fallen asleep, exhausted by all that had happened.

"Hooray!" Joe yelled. "Serious, I feel like a used battery." The adrenaline had started to recede and now Joe felt the drain that his light show had caused.

"Joe, I sincerely doubt a 'battery' could do something like that." The newly dedigivolved Gomamon pointed at the one remaining Dokugumon, who was currently still sizzling from the flash frying he got from Joe earlier.

"Sure." Joe said, feeling a bit proud of himself. After all, at least now he had been useful for a change, saving not only himself but Kari and Mimi as well.

"Hey Tai, don't forget this thing!" Tai had almost made his way to the door already, forgetting his sword. Off course Joe couldn't blame him. If one of his brothers had been in danger he'd forget about it as well.

As Joe reached for the sword an eerie laugh filled the room. **"Ooh nice, sushi!" **Immediately Joe backed away from the sword as if it had burned his hands. "That thing actually talks!?!" He had heard it complain before but thought of it as just an adrenaline fuelled illusion.

"**And doesn't appreciate being called a 'thing' at all. I am Frostmourne! Thousands upon thousands have fallen before me!" **

"Yeah-yeah-yeah." Tai rolled his non-existent eyes as he took a few steps towards the sword. "You said that all before. Guys, this is Frostmourne. He says he's an all powerful blade but I believe he just has a really big ego." Frostmourne actually turned red at that statement.

"**Foolish half creature!" **Frostmourne yelled out. **"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't destroy you where you stand?!?" **

"Because you can't wield yourself as a sword, because you are one yourself?" Tai asked as innocently sounding as he could, which wasn't very innocent at all.

"**Blasted!" **Frostmourne's voice was heard throughout the base.

"**I will not stand for this! I may be your ally now but if you don't start showing me proper respect, I'll make sure to destroy you one way or the other." **The last bit was grumbled as Mimi stepped to the blade.

"Tai's right, you do have a huge ego." Mimi said as she stood next to the blade. "Demanding respect like that." She continued. "Start by acting a bit more civilised and don't threaten people with their oncoming demise. Maybe then we'll threat you properly, do you understand?" She pointed at he blade, red energy forming on her fingernails.

"**Yes ma'am." **Unbelievable but true. If there's one thing **(of a near inexistent list!)** that Frostmourne fears its angry vampires.

"Good." Mimi said. "If there's one thing I hate is people who think highly of themselves without proper reason."

Mimi then picked up the sword at the hilt. She couldn't hold it entirely so she just dragged it along.

"**Hey that hurts!" **Frostmourne complained as Mimi dragged him along the ground, over bumps, cracked floor panels and the remains of the chicken gun.

* * *

"Hey Joe, a strange question perhaps but I need to know." Mimi asked as she walked next to Joe as Tai took them through the hallways, looking for a suitable resting spot.

"What the hell was up with yelling out 'I'm making darn sure the sun does come up!' all of a sudden?" Mimi referred to the point where Joe suddenly digivolved, or at least something like it.

Normally Joe would have been embarrassed to find out he had actually yelled that out but not anymore.

"That." He started. "Is a promise I made. Not just to my brothers, parents or anyone else back home but to myself."

Mimi nodded and actually feeling a bit bad for making fun off Joe back home, when he had pronounced his promise.

"Hey, I found someplace to crash!" Tai 's voice was heard clearly in front of them.

"You actually found a..." Joe started as he walked into the room. "Linen closet?" He was about to say bed room, or perhaps even kitchen. But linen closet?

"Yeah." Tai said sheepishly. "They're everywhere. But at least they make better resting places then the other rooms."

"Doesn't really matter." Mimi said, allowing Frostmourne to fall to the ground. "As long as it's a bit comfortable." She sat down on a pile of towels. "Not bad actually."

"Sure." Joe said. "Now al we need is some diner. I don't suppose you can find a kitchen as well?"

"Already did." Tai said as he too sat down, Kari still held close to his chest. "Who of you guys has the bag?"

"I got it!" Palmon yelled out, pulling a bag out of nowhere. "I thought of getting it down as well after defeating all those digimon."

"Like I was saying, we found a kitchen and decided to bring some food for you guys as well." Tai said.

"After all of you stuffed your faces while you were there, didn't you?" Mimi said as she reached for a piece of chicken. Their great escape had drained of nearly all her strength, so it felt good to finally be able to eat something.

"Only a little bit." Gomamon claimed, holding his claws an inch or so apart as to demonstrate how little.

"Plus we found out how Tai eats." BlackWarGreymon said. He was the only one that hadn't dedigivolved. He feared that he might not find the strength to digivolve again were they to run into Machinedramon's cronies. Or worse, Machinedramon himself.

Mimi and Joe stopped half way through their diner. "What?"

"We found out where the food goes after he eats it!" Gomamon said proudly.

"Eh..." Joe was at a loss for words. He hadn't really paid any attention to how Tai ate. "You don't have an oesophagus." He stated after observing Tai for a few minutes.

"Or any other internal organs." Tai rolled his imaginary eyes.

"I know but how..." Joe was at a total loss here. Tai sighed and decided to demonstrate. He picked up an apple, one of the last ones in the bag and ate it.

"So... where do you think that apple went?" Mimi asked, looking at the floor underneath Tai, positive that it should have fallen to the ground.

"No idea." Gatomon said, her ears lying flat in defeat. "He eats it and it disappears." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that."

"And who knows where it ends up?" Palmon asked, raising her shoulders in question.

"Perhaps, to a dimension very similar to our own, where people still live, following their way of the ninja!" Tai yelled out. "Or perhaps nowhere." He said as everyone looked at him strangely.

* * *

"Hey Tai." Mimi started all of a sudden. "Where did you get those wings? Last time we saw you, you didn't have them. Or that egocentric toothpick either." She glared at the sword, that actually managed to move half an inch away from her.

"Shouldn't we wait till Kari wakes up to start telling stories?" Gatomon asked. Kari was still sound asleep in her brother's arms. Or so it would seem.

"Oh she's been awake for some time now." Tai said. "She's just to lazy to let go of me."

"Am not." A soft voice came from the wings wrapped around Tai. "See?"

"And I think it's time you let go off me again, cause you're crushing my ribs." Tai chuckled. Kari did let go of her brother, leaving the safety of his arms as he know knew nothing could happen to her anymore. If Mimi had been an artist she would have wanted to paint such a scene. It was a weird, yet beautiful fusion of dark and light.

Gatomon immediately pounced Kari when she stood on the floor firmly. "Kari, I'm so sorry.." She said. "I promise I'll never let you out of my sight again."

Kari just patted the cat digimon on the head and reassured her that everything was fine.

"But I'm keeping you to that promise." Tai said, looking Gatomon straight in the eyes. "Whenever I'm not around, look after my sister, okay?"

Gatomon nodded fiercely. There was no way in hell that she'd ever allow anyone to hurt the first creature that had been nice to her.

"Now that that's settled, I'll tell you about what happened after SkullBalucimon attacked me." Tai started to tell the story, from start till end, leaving a few details out of it. He didn't really want to traumatise his friends. He told them how he stole Mephistomon's bones, how he took Frostmourne from its resting place and found dozens upon dozens of linen closets.

"Wow." Joe said. "Wow is the only way to describe that." Mimi continued. "Why does an evil mastermind like Machinedramon need so many linen closets?"

"I don't know." Tai said, a bit confused by the fact that Mimi only paid attention to the part of the linen closets. "But I intend to ask him when we meet. But doesn't all this freak you out?"

"The linen closets? A bit-

"No!" Tai stood up. "Not the freaking linen closets! The fact that I killed that digimon for such a reason." Off course Tai had deleted many digimon just earlier but Mephistomon was still different.

"Not at all." Mimi said, once Tai calmed down again. "Do you want us to be freaked out or something?"

"No, it's just." Tai sighed and sat down again. "I just can't grasp the thought that I'm capable of doing such a thing."

"Relax Tai." Joe stood up and patted the boy on the back. "We don't judge you. Just refrain from stealing my bones."

Mimi laughed. "Why on earth would Tai want _your _bones?"

"Hey!" Joe complained. "I'll have you know that these are high quality bones!"

"Is Joe trying to sell himself or something?" Palmon asked Gomamon. "Not entirely sure." Gomamon said. "But if Tai shows up later with a bunch of fish bones as a left arm, I'll want some answers."

"Trust me, Joe's bones are safe." Tai said as Joe still rattled on about his 'awesome' bone structure.

That was till he was interrupted by an explosion that shook the entire base like a martini, 'shaken, not stirred.'

"What's going on?" Kari asked as she tried to keep steady on the shaking floor. "Feels like world war 3 has just erupted." Joe said from the floor before he picked himself up.

"We've got to get out of here." Tai went into 'leader' mode and guided everyone into the hallway again. "If we stay any longer we might get crushed by falling debris."

True to Tai's word the ceiling began to give way, steel plates falling from the sky as if they were rain.

"Aah!" Joe barely dodged a plate heading his way. "That was way too close." He said, his heart racing.

"Watch out!" A huge steel support beam dropped from the ceiling, intend on crushing Gatomon, kari and Palmon into digital goo.

Palmon closed her eyes, not wanting to actually see her early demise rushing at her.

'clang!'

"Are you three okay?" A deep voice asked. Palmon opened her eyes to see BlackWarGreymon towering over her, with the girder bent around him.

"We owe you one." Gatomon said as she quickly crawled out from under the beam, dragging Kari with her.

"Not at all." BlackWarGreymon said as he threw the girder away. "Let's just hurry up and get away."

Mimi quickly grabbed Palmon as she'd be too slow to follow with her stubby legs and followed Tai towards any possible exit.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside.

"Looks like our plan backfired a bit." Izzy said, looking at the destruction the deadly duo was causing. Megadramon and Gigadramon were levelling the city before their very eyes.

It didn't take Izzy long to realise what had been happening every time he logged in to Machinedramon's network. Every time he had betrayed their location to Machinedramon's followers, allowing them to send their troops after them.

_Flashback_

"_I think I figured it out." Izzy said. "Every time I log into Machinedramon's network, I allow them inside my laptop as well. And thus I reveal our location every time." He said, bowing his head in shame._

"_You've been doing what?!?" Matt yelled out, trying to get to Izzy to beat the crap out of his armoured shell. Luckily for Izzy, Sora had a good grip on Matt._

"_Matt, calm down." She said soothingly to the wolf digimon. "He didn't do it on purpose you know."_

"_That's right." Tentomon said. "It could have happened to anyone."_

_Matt visibly calmed down and Sora let go off him. "Fine, but don't you dare to log in again." He warned Izzy. "Oh and also..."_

'_smack!' _

'_crack!'_

_Matt introduced his fist to Izzy's horned face. Only problem was that Izzy's curved horn was made out of the same stuff that made up most of his body, which was incredibly strong. So in the end all it did was break Matt's fist..._

_TK initially refused to heal it, as it was Matt's punishment 'for being a bully!' Was how TK phrased it, but eventually he did it anyway. Kid has a way to big heart._

_End flashback_

So there they were, Izzy's plan to use Machinedramon's plan against them had backfired as the entire city was being levelled. They had to move fast, before thy too dissapeared into the rubble of what was once a great city.

Elsewhere.

"Hey did you order Megadramon and Gigadramon to destroy the entire city?" Hagurumon 1 asked. "I thought you did that." His companion stated.

"Wait. If you didn't order them and I didn't order them, then who did?" Hagurumon scratched his metal head in confusion.

"I did." A booming voice sounded throughout the command room.

"Oh b-b-boss? Is that you?" Hagurumon 1 panicked. The boss had been listening in on them all this time?!

"Who else you stuttering pile of bolts?!" Machinedramon yelled through the intercom. "I know how you lost the digidestined again and again, so I ordered Gigadramon and Megadramon to level the entire city."

"Wow! Good idea boss!" Hagurumon 2 tried to soothe Machinedramon's rage a bit.

"Remind me to cut the two of you up into scrap when I get back to the base." Machinedramon stated, no emotion to his voice. Both Hagurumon gulped. "S-s-sure thing boss." Hagurumon managed to utter. "When will you return?"

The charred ground of what was once a beautiful city trembled as a huge draconic creature walked through the once mighty gates. "Right. Now."

Machinedramon had returned home.

* * *

Finally! A new chapter! Took me long enough though. Oh well...

And yes, almost no Matt-Izzy-Sora-TK in this chapter but I could barely fit them in. I even tried fitting in the whole 'hospital' scene but it just wouldn't work! Bu they'll be back next chapter, as we march towards Machinedramon to stop him once and for all... I don't really want to kill Machinedramon... I like him!

Also, everyone happy now? I put in BlackWarGreymon!

Reviews

Depthmon: electricity as in lamps, plugs, stuff like that. I've learned how to wire a fuse box, make electrical motors work, blow stuff up... mostly that last one. You'd be surprised by how many electrical thing can simply explode by wiring it incorrectly.

SilverMau: One update, just for you ;) and don't worry, I just update a lot slower but I'm not planning on stopping any time soon.

Martiny the one and only still: glad you liked it

PrincessJaded: Joe kicks ass! To bad that he's barely gets any' screen time' in fanfiction 'sulks' And yes, he did digivolve. I didn't immediately realise that I made Joe into a champion digimon, while everyone else was an ultimate. I wanted to change that at first but hen I thought, nah. Could work out in the story later on. Spiders are nasty! Yet, I can't stop watching spider horror movies for some reason...

Doodle-chan: Have you read the latest ones? Damn that even more messed up. Go Rasenshuriken! And I'll write another one when I find the inspiration. It's here somewhere 'shows the pile of junk that is Ron's room...'

Aldamonburst: I'll put a paper bag on his head when he meets the others, okay? Is he really that scary? Or messed up?

Takari4ever3012: apples rule. Period. Most awesome fruit around ;)

Starwings1: life would be insanely boring without it!

Super garurumon: the same, I just can't handle those tiny spiders. I don't know why but I just can't stand them! I don't know if that classifies as Arachnophobia as I just fear those. 'shrugs'

R&R people!


	22. And chaos ensued

Still don't own it. But one day I will!

* * *

Beyond humanity

Chapter 22

"I think I found a way out!" Tai yelled as he entered a hallway. The hatch there would probably lead to their sweet freedom.

Tai quickly turned the handle and pushed against it, only for him to slump to the ground after a minute or two. "Too heavy…" He muttered from the ground.

BlackWarGreymon didn't say anything and just pushed the door open. "You make it look so simple." Tai complained as BlackWarGreymon pulled him off of the floor.

"People!" Joe yelled as he arrived at the hatch as well. "We don't have time to be chatting here!" A steel pipe fell two inches from his shoulder, causing him to shriek.

"This place is falling apart!" Mimi cried out.

"Everyone, out of here!" Tai yelled, pushing his sister towards the hatch, when he suddenly realized something.

"Oh crap!" He yelled over the sounds of a collapsing base. "We forgot Frostmourne!"

"So?"Mimi asked as she climbed through the hatch. She looked down at Tai. "Leave that thing."

"I can't." Tai said. "We need it if we want to defeat Machinedramon."

"Tai! Get a grip!" BlackWarGreymon yelled. "This place is collapsing on us!"

"We can defeat him without that sword." Gatomon said.

Right then everything came down upon Tai, who jumped back to avoid being crushed by debris.

"Tai!" Mimi yelled. She tried to jump though the hatch again and run through the falling pieces of metal but Palmon stopped her. "You can't get to him!" Palmon yelled, her vines wrapping around Mimi's wrists in order to pull her back.

"Tai!" Kari yelled through the wall of debris that separated her from her brother. "Idiot!" Joe yelled. "You'll have to find another way out!"

"Don't worry about me!" Tai yelled, his voice barely audible over the creaking sounds of the underground structure. "Just get out of here!" After that all they heard were footsteps, running in the direction they came from.

"Is that idiot trying to get me killed?" Joe asked, his hand clenching his chest. "Seriously, he's giving me a heart attack."

"Come on, let's go!" Gatomon pulled on Kari's hand. "I promised your brother I'd keep you save and I plan on keeping that promise."

"I can see light!" Gomamon yelled. True to his word, there was light. It was visible through a pile of rubble. BlackWarGreymon just pushed it out of the way, like it was nothing.

"Sunlight!" Joe yelled. "Or at least something like that…" He muttered once he realized that the sun was hidden behind a big stack of grey clouds.

"Hey, WarGreymon, couldn't you just push that rubble below us out of the way?" Mimi asked. If he had done that, they could have dragged Tai's stupid ass back here.

BlackWarGreymon just shook his head. "This were just some random pieces of pipe and sheet metal. Tai's way out was blocked mainly by support beams and like wise." BlackWarGreymon cursed himself for leaving Tai there but he couldn't lift those beams out of the way or blast them either. It would only speed up the demolition of the building. "For the moment all we can do is wait for Tai to find his way out himself."

"He'd better get out of there quickly." Kari said. Gatomon nodded. "I sincerely doubt this place will be standing for much longer."

"And neither will any of you…" A dark voice spoke.

* * *

Meanwhile Tai was trying to find his way through the rubble. They hadn't run very far but still, have you ever tried running through a layer of rubble up to your knees, while trying to dodge even more debris coming from the ceiling?

Soon Tai arrived at the closet, where they last saw Frostmourne.

"**So you came back for me." **It hissed.** "I'm touched.** "

"Well, believe it or not we still need you to defeat Machinedramon." Tai said as he grabbed the sword's handle, only for it to burn in his hands. True, Tai didn't have skin anymore but still he could feel the incredibly hot temperatures coming from the cursed blade.

" '**We' need you?'" **Frostmourne mocked him.** "That's a good one. Are you sure it isn't just 'you' that needs me? Face it half creature, you thought you could contain my strength. Didn't you? You thought that you could just give me up when you didn't need me anymore, didn't you?"**

"**But in what's left of your heart, you feel it." **Frostmourne continued.** "You long for my strength, you don't think you can rely on your own strength, do you?"**

Tai stayed quiet for a second and thought. Was this cursed piece of steel telling the truth? Was he really getting so dependent on it?

"I don't need you." Tai stated. "I could just leave you here, if that would make you feel any better…"

"**Oh really?" **Frostmourne's cold laughter filled the room. **"If I remember correctly, you left here with another bunch of half creatures, the angel, the sushi and the vampire, right?"**

Tai glared at the sword.

"**Didn't you leave them all by themselves, just so you could retrieve little ole me?" **Frostmourne laughed.

Tai took a step towards the sword. "True, I may have come back for you." He took another step. "And I may have left my friends alone for awhile." Another step.

"But…" He grabbed the sword again. "I didn't come back just for _you_!" Tai yelled, ignoring the sizzling sounds coming from the sword as his bones began to turn black.

"I came back." Tai started. "Because _you_ are the only way I can protect my friends!" He slammed the sword into a piece of rubble that nearly fell on top of him.

"**So you keep saying half creature." **Frostmourne's handle cooled down again. **"Very well, for now I'll help you 'save' your friends."** Tai let out a sigh of relief, only for the sword to turn red hot!

"**But know this! One day you'll either see things my way and kill those pathetic creatures…" **Frostmourne cooled down again.** "Or join the ranks of those before you."**

Tai growled but swallowed the insults he wanted to fling the sword's way.

* * *

Tai ran. Over debris, over steel grates and over the remains of SkullBaluchimon. The skull digimon was trapped, his entire body, except his head and his left front arm, crushed beneath a bunch of steel bars, the same that nearly crushed BlackWarGreymon.

He did his best to stay as far away from his distant cousin as he had experienced before that Skull digimon didn't die when you destroyed their body…

* * *

"Palmon digivolves to Togemon!"

"Togemon digivolves to Lillymon!"

"Gomamon digivolves to Ikkakumon!"

"Ikkakumon digivolves to Zudomon!"

"Gatomon digivolves to Angewomon!"

Light engulfed the remains of the city as the digital monsters prepared to battle with their greatest foe since Puppetmon.

"Machinedramon." Angewomon spat out the word, like it was something vile. "How did he sneak up on us?" Joe asked, inwardly thanking the digimon for their quick reflexes. They digivolved instantly when they heard Machinedramon's voice.

"Easily." Machinedramon said. "I'm a mega digimon. My speed, power and defense are unparalleled. And let's not forget the abundance of digital energy, shall we?" With that said, Machinedramon blurred, leaving the horizon visible again.

"Aah!" Lillymon yelped. "Where did he go?"

"This is bad!" Zudomon swung his hammer around him, hoping to hit the hidden dragon by pure luck.

"It is." Machinedramon whispered in his ear as he became visible again. "For you!" He picked Zudomon up with ease and tossed him towards the digidestined. Lillymon and Angewomon quickly picked up their charges and flew them to safety.

"You've got to be kidding me." Joe said as he was the only one still standing there as Zudomon came crashing down on him.

"Sorry Joe." Zudomon said as he scrambled off of his friend. "You okay?"

Luckily for Joe Zudomon landed at a crooked angle, so Zudomon's spikes prevented the tortoise like shell from crushing Joe.

"I'm fine." Joe said. "But Machinedramon disappeared again."

True to Joe's word, Machinedramon had turned invisible again.

"He could be everywhere." Lillymon said as she hovered back to back with Angewomon. "True but there has to be a way to find him. I mean, he's fast but he's still the size of an apartment building!"

Meanwhile Mimi thought about the same. She checked the ground for any signs of the mega digimon. After all: fresh layer of rubble + heavy digimon equaled huge footprints, right?

"Over there!" She suddenly yelled out. Two huge footprints appeared there, where Angewomon and Lillymon hovered.

"I see it!" Joe yelled, charging up a Lightning Javelin and firing it at the clear sky.

It struck Machinedramon , revealing him once more, blurring in and out of existence with lines of electricity running over him.

"I got him!" Joe yelled. His attack had left Machinedramon standing there, smoke coming out of his eye holes.

"Don't celebrate too soon." Machinedramon's voice cracked a bit. "All you did was charge up my battery!"

Joe grabbed his head in frustration. "Oh great, so all I did was make him stronger..."

"Hey Machinedramon!" Machinedramon turned around to see BlackWarGreymon behind him, charging up a Terra Destroyer attack, before hurtling it at him. "Choke on this!"

The attack crashed into Machinedramon's chest, piercing through it a bit, before simply dissipating.

"That stung." Machinedramon said. "A bit more oomph behind it and you might have killed me." He laughed.

"But you had your shot and now it's my turn!" Machinedramon's incinerated and half melted chest opened up, revealing a device of sorts. A purple aura seeped from the device, quickly engulfing him entirely.

"Machinedramon… mode change to…"

"What is he doing?" Mimi yelled out.

"He's changing modes!" Lilymon yelled out. "But that's supposed to be impossible!"

But there it was. Fuelled by an abundance of digital energy, Machinedramon overcame the restrictions that his species normally had.

Both Lilymon and Angewomon flew back to their protégées and sought shelter behind Zudomon, who had turned his armored back towards Machinedramon in an attempt to shield all of them.

The Dark Master's voice became distorted as he spoke.

"Machinedramon…** Chaos mode!"**

A shockwave was unleashed from the mode changed creature, causing Zudomon to nearly topple over and sending BlackWarGreymon crashing down.

The naval digimon was afraid to turn around as he knew what he would find there. He had heard the stories before: Machinedramon, Chaos Mode. Also known as Chaosdramon. Destroyer of worlds...

"I think I had this nightmare before." Zudomon said.

"Chaosdramon." Angewomon cursed that name.

"What's so bad about him, besides the obvious?" Joe asked, though he wasn't really sure if he wanted to know.

"You'll see." Zudomon said, turning around in a single bound.

"Such…power…" Machinedramon Chaos Mode said, looking at his hands.

He still looked like his old form, only now he was more humanoid, standing even taller then before, now that he wasn't crouched over like a normal Machinedramon. His entire armour was now red, with a few exception being his arms and cannons, which had remained grey.

Chaosdramon laughed. "Such Power!" He fired a blast from the Hyper Mugen Cannon on his back, which nearly ripped the skies above him open.

He turned to the digidestined. "Foolish humans." He laughed, aiming his right arm at them. "Still think you can defeat me?"

"We can try." BlackWarGreymon said as he picked himself up from between the rubble. His courage shield was cracked slightly. He'd just have to fight without it for now…

"So be it." Chaosdramon laughed. "Chaos Crusher!" He slammed his hand down on BlackWarGreymon, who nearly sunk into the ground from the amount of force behind the punch. He somehow managed to catch the claw with his bare hands and gave it his all to prevent himself from being crushed.

"Think this is hard?" Chaosdramon asked. "Right now you think: 'this is hard, I can barely hold this massive arm up' "Machinedramon pushed down a bit more, causing BlackWarGreymon to drop to his knees, still not wanting to give up.

"And now you're thinking: 'If I try to get away, he'll just crush me.' Am I right?"

BlackWarGreymon just growled, not willing to admit that those were his exact thoughts.

"And you know what?" Chaosdramon asked. "It's getting worse." With his own question answered, Chaosdramon's arm began spinning around, flinging BlackWarGreymon round and round and round…

BlackWargreymon was thrown around and could barely hold on. Eventually his hands went numb and he had to let go. As such he was flung away, spiraling around and crashing into Zudomon outstretched hand.

"I told you there were reasons to fear him." Zudomon said as he gently placed BlackWarGreymon down. "This is but a fraction of his power."

"Indeed." Angewomon said. "You can see it already." She pointed at the air behind Chaosdramon. There were strange distortions in it. "His very presence here is enough to throw the world off balance."

"But what can we do against such a monster?" Mimi asked. She didn't get how such a creature could hold so much power and not cave in under it all.

"I'm beginning to think Tai was right." Joe said. "We might need that sword of his after all."

"He'd better hurry up." Zudomon said, holding his hammer out in front of him. "Else we might not walk away from this battle."

"No!" Kari yelled out.

This took everyone by surprise as she hadn't said anything since the beginning of the battle.

Her eyes glowed a bright yellow. "I can't… I can't allow this monster to destroy this world!" She yelled out as she clapped her hands together. A beam of light was launched from her hands and towards the Dark Master, only for him to knock it away.

"Was that the best you can do?" He asked the little girl. Kari, driven by an unknown force, hovered into the air.

"Tai's going to kill us when he finds out about this." Joe said, seeing the eight year old climb in altitude. "Kari get down here at once!" Joe yelled upwards.

"Heavens' charm!" Kari ignored Joe as she clasped her arms together again and sending a cross like beam of light towards Chaosdramon.

Chaosdramon was mildly impressed by such an attack but just swiped it away again.

"Are you all so weak you have to get a little girl to fight for you?" Chaosdramon laughed as he knocked Kari out of the air.

"Aaaaaaahhh!" Kari fell to the ground as her wings weren't calculated on such an attack. "Kari!" Angewomon pushed herself from the ground and flew towards Kari, to save her from falling to her death.

"Almost… there!" She cried out as she flew out towards the girl, only for something else to catch her.

"Eh?" It took her a few seconds to realize what had just happened.

"I thought I asked you to look after her?" A voice asked from below her.

Angewomon smiled. "I was looking after her. I almost caught her, didn't I?"

Tai scowled at her. "Just don't let it happen again, okay?" Tai clapped his wings again and hovered over to Angewomon.

"Tai?" Kari asked. "You can fly?"

"Something like that." Tai admitted as he handed his sister over to her digimon. "You'll still have to learn me how do to it properly after this."

With that said Tai dropped to the ground again. He landed rather hard, nearly cracking his feet as he did so.

"It's time to finish this once and for all." Tai said, pulling Frostmourne from his back. "Wait, what the hell happened to you?"

"Tai!" Mimi yelled at the skeletal digidestined. "He changed modes!"

"What the hell is 'changed modes' supposed to mean? I never heard about that before." Tai turned to her and yelled back.

"Destroyed hook!" Chaosdramon yelled, sending a missile towards Tai. "This is my new power!"

The missile impacted on Tai's back and forced him to fall to his knees.

"Can you feel it?" Machinedramon Chaos Mode asked. "The virus implanted in that device?" He laughed as he bend down, over Tai. "Right now it's spreading throughout your system. Soon your flesh will start to melt. There won't be anything left of you other then some hair and-

Tai turned around and slashed across Machinedramon's chest with Frostmourne, splitting it open. "Let me guess: bones? A little bit too late for that buddy."

Chaosdramon cursed himself for letting his guard down. Tai had gotten in a lucky strike: Chaosdramon's few organic parts were visible.

"You pitiful digidestined sliced open my armor." Machinedramon started to laugh for some reason. "Maybe you aren't as pathetic as I thought."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Tai said, standing up again. "I wonder what will happen if I were to stab that thing in there." Tai pointed at the heart like organ inside Machinedramon Chaos Mode.

"Too bad you'll never find out." The Dark Master said, lifting his left arm over the wound to cover it up. "It doesn't work on you but I wonder how well your friends will take to my virus."

"No!" Tai yelled but it was too late. The dark red missile from the mode changed mega was launched at the biggest target around, which was Zudomon.

In a desperate attempt to destroy Chaosdramon, Tai threw Frostmourne to the ground and prepared to do something he had never done before…

"Ground Zero!" He yelled, launching the missile on his back upwards and towards Chaosdramon's left arm. It barely dented it but as the fish shaped rocket impacted it send forth some shrapnel, which found its way around the protective arm and imbedded itself into his heart.

"That hurts weakling." Machinedramon Chaos Mode said. "But no use. Watch as your friends melt away!" He laughed maniacally.

"Giga Missile!" Someone yelled, sending their own projectile towards ChaosDdramon's. While the crimson missile hadn't been destroyed, it was off track and crashed into a pile of rubble that used to be the Eiffel tower.

"Are we too late for the party?" Matt asked from atop of MetalGarurumon.

* * *

OMG! The apocalyptic battle against Machinedramon started! Well, I mean Machinedramon Chaos Mode! Who saw this coming, no serious, who did?

And damn, only five reviews? Was my last chapter that bad? Be honest as it's the only way I'll learn.

Reviews

PrincessJaded: Yeah I've got that. Actually a lot of people I know do. As long as they know it's fake, they don't mind it. same with Kari and Onigumon in the earlier chapters. She immediately realized it was a fake. And I think I made Frostmourne too much of a wuss in the last chapters, so I made him a lot more evil in this one. Though he'll still fear Mimi ^^

Martiny the one and only: you really like that scene, don't you? I'll try to get Tai to punch Izzy at another time, okay?

SilverMau: glad you liked that ;)

GrX3m0m: thank you

Depthon: yes our governments suck. They really do. And none taken.

R&R people!


	23. And chaos faded

Still don't own digimon. Obtaining of rights is in progress though. (yeah right)

* * *

Beyond Humanity

Chapter 22

"Are we too late?" Matt asked again. He and MetalGarurumon stood atop of a pile of rubble. "Hey Tai, what the hell are you doing down there?"

Tai managed to turn his head far enough to see Matt. Even from this distance he could see the smirk on his face, the elongated canines gleaming in the dim sunlight.

"Oh great." Machinedramon Chaos Mode said. "At least now I don't have to hunt all of you down."

The mega level stepped on the downed form of Tai, threatening to break nearly every bone in his body. "One by one." Chaosdramon said. "You will all perish!"

Machinedramon Chaos Mode began to press down on Tai, slowly crushing his bones. Tai groaned on the pressure on his chest.

"Wing Blade!"

"Hand of Fate!"

"Horn Buster!"

The three attacks struck Chaosdramon in the chest, which he was still protecting with his arm. While he was barely scratched by the trio of attacks he was forced to take a step or two back.

"Now MetalGarurumon!" Matt yelled. Metalgarurumon sprung into action, launching himself towards Machinedramon Chaos Mode's feet, where Tai was.

Dodging the massive feet of the sluggish Mega with ease MetalGarurumon was able to get close enough to grab Tai. Matt pulled the dazed skeleton onto the mecha wolf as quickly as he could.

"Do you even realize how worried we've been about you and Mimi?" Matt asked as Metalgarurumon got the hell out of there and towards the others.

"I know." Tai said.

"No you don't! Damnit Tai why the hell did you run?" Matt all but yelled. "It's still you in there, right?"

Tai just nodded, and though Matt couldn't see him he knew how he answered. "You're not getting rid off us Tai. No matter what you turn into."

Tai remained silent for a while.

"Thanks Matt." He said quietly.

"No problem." The wolf boy said, a grin on his face.

"Can you stand?" Matt asked as MetalGarurumon brought them to relative safety with the others. "Think so." Tai said, before falling off of Gabumon's evolved form.

"You sure about that?" Sora asked as she caught him before he hit the ground. "You've got some explaining to do Tai." She said with a firm voice. "But I'm glad to see you. Do you know how worried we've been?"

"No." Tai answered flatly as Metalgarurumon rushed off to fight again. Sora hit him on the head with her free hand, enjoying the hollow sound his skull made. "Idiot. We've been worried to death!"

"All of us have been." TK said. "Besides, how are we supposed to be a team without our leader?" Izzy asked.

"Hey! And what about me?" Mimi asked, offended by the fact that she received no attention at all. "Was anyone worried about me?"

"No." Izzy said. "You were with Tai all the time, so we had no reason to be worried." He smiled.

Mimi whacked him on the head. "I missed you guys."

"So did we." Angemon said. "But what's with the new look? We expected you to become some flower child, like Palmon."

"Nope, I became something else." Mimi said, looking at her blood red nails. "Better then becoming a beetle or a dog. Though I'll have to buy some hair dye when we get back home." She whirled her hair around her finger before letting it go again.

"I think it looks nice." TK said, a big smile on his face.

"You really think so?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah, it reminds me of grandma." TK said. Mimi developed a tick mark. "She has the same color as you do right now!" Mimi then proceeded to turn red.

"Now Mimi, please refrain from killing little TK." Sora said, moving a wing in between the two of them. "He's our medic after all."

Mimi calmed down again, deciding that she'd take her revenge on TK later on. He was doomed.

* * *

"Hyper Muggen Cannon!" Chaosdramon yelled, firing his cannons at the group again. Zudomon and MegaKabuterimon acted as 'human' shields, their thick hides absorbing most of the strike.

"That's going to hurt in the morning." MegaKabuterimon complained, falling to one knee as the blast dissipated.

"Why wait till tomorrow?" Zudomon asked as he checked his own back to make sure that his shell hadn't melted or something. Luckily that hadn't happened. Just a few holes burned into it.

"We've got to end this." Izzy said. "Quickly, seeing how Zudomon and MegaKabuterimon look like they're about to pass out."

"Oh no, we're fine." Zudomon said, before getting hit with another of Chaosdramon's attacks, causing him to dedigivolve and drop from the sky.

"Forget that I said that." Gomamon said as Joe caught him.

"You okay Gomamon?" Joe asked, putting the seal digimon down. "I think so." Gomamon answered. "I'm just waiting for the world to stop spinning."

"He's fine." Joe said to the others.

"Okay as I was saying." Izzy started again. "We've got to end this quickly, seeing how we're almost defenseless right now."

"And don't forget about that." Sora pointed at the sky, where rifts in time and space began to form.

"Oh right, the tears in the fabric of existence." Izzy scratched his chin in thought. "I've got an idea, that just might work…"

"Spill it, cause our digimon won't be able to keep Chaosdramon at bay for long." Tai said, seeing how the Dark Master swatted Angemon like a fly.

"This might be a strange idea but do any of you know what happens when you superheat and quickly cool down iron?" Izzy asked.

"Izzy, we're not blacksmiths." Mimi said. "How should we know?"

"You'll see, we just have to find a way to get him up to his Currie temperature and then cool him down as quickly as possible." Izzy said, pacing around a bit. "But where are we going to find a forge at a time like this?"

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon yelled, sending her fire attack at Machinedramon Chaos mode.

"Will that do?" Sora asked. Izzy sweatdropped. "Right, kind of forgot that we had a huge fire breathing bird here."

"And here I was, thinking you were a genius Izzy." Megakabuterimon laughed.

"Okay, as I was saying." Izzy ignored the remark from his fellow insect. "MetalGarurmon has to use an ice attack right afterwards to cool Chaosdramon down again. If everything goes right his armor should become rather brittle." Izzy said. "Though I'm not sure that applies to whatever material he's made off." After all, did digital iron react the same way to heat as normal iron?

Angewomon landed behind Megakabuterimon, dropping Kari off at the first opening she got.

"It's our only chance." Kari said as she had heard the plan from her spot in Angewomon's arms. "Think we can do it?" She asked, seeing the condition her brother was in.

"We haven't come this far to get beat by this tin can." Tai answered as he let go of Sora, who had been supporting to make sure he didn't fall over.

"BlackWarGreymon? You still got some fight in you?" Tai asked the mega, who nodded. "I'm your can opener today." He said, his claws shining in the faint light of the sun.

"Okay then! Let's do it!" Tai yelled, his voice full of confidence for the first time since he had started to change.

Initiate epic battle music!

Sora took to the air, flapping her wings to gain more height. She had to make her way to garudamon, to tell her the plan and help her. After all, Garudamon was still an ultimate. But their combined attacks might make the difference.

"Matt!" Tai yelled as he ran towards the battlefield. Matt jumped off of MetalGarurumon, to see what the hell was going on. "Tai, shouldn't you get out of here? You're hurt."

"I'll live but we've got a plan." Tai answered. " Tell Metalgarurumon to attack after Garudamon and Sora do so. Tell him to freeze the bastard."

"How will that help?" Matt asked. Previous ice attacks from the mega canine had proven very ineffective.

"You'll see." Tai stated. "You'll see."

Matt nodded. Tai appeared very sure about this, so who was he to question him?

Matt ran, as quickly as he could to Metalgarurumon, dodging Machinedramon Chaos Mode's melee attacks. Getting hit by a drill the size of a house would probably rip him into tiny bits of wolf meat.

Not a pleasant fate.

"Wing Blade!" Garudamon yelled from above him. He saw the blast fly at Machinedramon, followed by a smaller version. 'Must be Sora's.' He thought.

"MetalGarurumon!" He yelled, seeing how he wouldn't make it on time. "Attack… now!"

Metalgarurumon reared his head, seeing how the two attacks impacted on Chaosdramon's body. The intense heat from the attack caused the normal red steel to turn nearly white hot. But it didn't bother him all that much.

That was until he got hit by one of Metalgarurumon's missiles, which immediately cooled him down again. Superheated steel + instant cooling = not good, even in the digital world.

"Aaahh!!!" Machinedramon Chaos Mode screamed in frustration as the steel plates of his body expanded and shrunk within a few seconds. Because of the process the red-digizoid that made up nearly 97% of his body became much weaker.

"Now!" Tai yelled. "Attack!" BlackWarGreymon nodded and began spinning like a top, before launching himself at Chaosdramon. "Black Tornado!!"

Machinedramon Chaos Mode instinctively held his arm in front of his chest, to protect the weak spot the digidestined of Courage had made.

But it was no use. BlackWarGreymon had put his all in that attack, cutting through the weakened steel and through the arm. Not slowed down by the arm he plunged through Machinedramon's chest, cutting the heart inside into pieces.

BlackWarGreymon emerged from the back of the Dark Master, immediately dedigivolving as he fell to the ground. Lillymon caught him before he could hit the floor.

"Come on." Joe stared at the behemoth that was still standing there. "You think it worked?" he asked Kari and Mimi.

"It had to." Mimi said.

"Pain." Machinedramon Chaos Mode said, his voice barely audible. "So this is what it feels like." He dropped to his knees as his components began to shut down, one by one.

"Did we do it?" Koromon asked Lillymon. "I think so." She said. "He's not moving anymore." True but he hadn't disappeared yet either.

"We won, right?" TK asked. "I don't know." Matt said as he and Metalgarurumon arrived back where Megakabuterimon stood. "Is the world around us crumbling already?"

"Don't think so." Joe said, kicking against some shrapnel. "Nope, still here."

"Someone should go and see what's going on." Sora said, pointing at the still form of Machinedramon Chaos mode. "Any volunteers?"

"Oh no, no way." Joe said, stepping away from Tai. "This is just like in the movie, where the gullible quiet boy approaches the thought to be dead monster which then suddenly relives and eats him."

"Probably." Izzy said. "It's not healthy for Joe to end up as sushi."

"I'll go." Tai said. "I need to pick up Frostmourne anyway." He remembered throwing the sentient sword away somewhere in the battle but where it ended up, he didn't know.

Tai walked over to Machinedramon Chaos mode. He wasn't afraid to approach the dead behemoth. He had to be dead, seeing how the only organic parts in him where destroyed by BlackWarGreymon. Kind of ironic actually. The sole bit of him, that wasn't replaced by technology had been the death of him.

Tai, not knowing what else to do, kicked the hunk of red metal. All he got was a somewhat hollow sound coming from within the creature. He assessed the damage BlackWarGreymon had done. His entire left arm was gone and he had a huge gaping hole in his chest.

Tai stared into the empty eyes of the steel creature. In a way, he kind of felt a kinship with the monster. They may have been on different sides of border of good and bad but still. How was Machinedramon different from him? Just like Tai, he had a weak core hidden within cold materials.

"Aagh." That sound made Tai jump back as it signaled that Machinedramon was still alive. "See!" Joe yelled. "It always happens!"

"Shut it humanoid." Machinedramon Chaos Mode cursed. He had been immobilized entirely. BlackWarGreymon had torn his entire insides to bits, so he wouldn't be going anywhere soon.

"So you still live?" Tai asked as he walked around Machinedramon, looking for his sword. Though he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted it back… But it had given them an advantage in this battle, seeing how it had cut through Chaosdramon's armor. That along with Izzy's idea had weakened it enough for BlackWarGreymon to deliver the finishing blow.

"Barely." Machinedramon said, his voice sounding like it came through an old pair of speakers. "Who would have thought a bunch of half creatures like yourself could take me down?" He laughed darkly. "But it doesn't matter." He continued.

"How come?" Tai asked as he spotted Frostmourne, half buried between some ruble. He pulled the blade out, expecting it to start cursing him immediately. Strangely it didn't.

It just remained silent, as if it was waiting for something.

"All you've fought for, all your dreams, all of your hopes." Machinedramon Chaos Mode growled. "Even with my defeat, they're worthless. Piedmon, the last dark master will not fall as easily as I did."

"How come you're so sure about that?" Tai asked, pointing Frostmourne at the scrap pile.

"Digital energy." Machinedramon Chaos Mode said, revealing his ally's secrets to their enemy. Hey, he was as good as dead anyway. "Piedmon has taken its power to whole new levels!"

"We'll see about that." Tai said. Above him the skies began to twist and form into a slow moving vortex. "But you won't." Tai knew what he had to do. This was what Frostmourne had been waiting for…

Tai climbed onto Machinedramon's back, where the hole through his body was. Using his wings to descend into the cavity, he quickly found what he was looking for.

The last part of Machinedramon's heart. It was still beating, doing its best to survive. But eventually it would have died down.

But by then the universe might have collapsed upon them.

"**Do it." **Frostmourne ordered. **"Feed me his soul."**

"I'm not doing this to get you a snack." Tai said to the blade. "But if I don't delete him, his very existence would wipe out the world, you included."

Frostmourne pulsed. **"True… Chaos Mode is not something to be used lightly." **Even he knew that. Untamed chaos could destroy the world in days if allowed to run rampant.

"What do you think is going on in there?" Kari asked. "I don't know, but I don't like it." Matt said. "He's been in there for way to long."

"Don't worry." Mimi said. "That pig sticker of his is probably talking his ears off again."

"Talking?" Sora asked. That thing could talk?

Mimi nodded. "Damn thing has quite an attitude." She said. "Demanding respect and sacrifices all the time."

"Okay…" Izzy said, not sure if he believed that. Or if he wanted to believe that.

"Do it half creature." Machinedramon ordered. "Or are you to weak to finish me off? To kill me in cold blood?"

"To kill someone in cold blood, yes then I am too weak." Tai said. "This isn't in cold blood. This is saving my world and yours!" He slammed the sword into Machinedramon's last bit of living tissue. It almost immediately turned black , before bursting into digital dust.

"**Kind of tastes like chicken." **Frostmourne mentioned as the entire red carapace of Chaosdramon disappeared, as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Tai? Are you okay?" Mimi asked as she ran up to him.

"I'm fine." He lied. Tai's heart would have to been made of rock if he wasn't fazed by the death of Machinedramon by his hand. Other digimon like those Dokugumon made him feel bad too. But they appeared mindless. Machinedramon on the other hand was intelligent. He had a real face, even if it was mechanical… (Inspiration I got from a book. Only a foe that looks you in the eye as you destroy him should you feel bad about. As he is the one that remains human, even when dead is upon him.)

"You sure?" Mimi asked. "You look a bit pale." She joked.

"I could say the same thing." Tai said back.

"Tai!" Koromon yelled. "You did it! You did it!" Koromon jumped into his arms.

"No, we did it." Tai said. "All of us."

"At least now I hope you won't try to run form us anymore Tai." Matt started.

"As individuals we're worthless." Izzy continued

"But together we're invincible!" Sora finished, all three of them pumping their fists into the air.

Tai scratched his head. "Exactly how long have you been practicing that?" He asked.

"They've been doing that for about two hours." TK answered, seeing how the other three apparently didn't want to.

"Uh guys, while I hate to interrupt this whole team bonding session." Joe started.

"Then don't." Matt said to him, stating the obvious.

"Okay then I'll shut up, but please look over there!" He yelled that last bit, seeing how even he was shocked by how fast the deletion of Machinedramon's city was coming towards them.

"Not good." Tai said. "Garudamon!" Sora yelled at her partner digimon. "You still have enough energy to get us out of here?" She prayed that the answer to that question was yes…

"Watch me." Garudamon said, picking various digidestined and digimon up in her claws.

"Hey put me down!" Joe yelled as Garudamon picked him up by her talons, before taking off. Joe looked like a snake caught by an eagle. Again…

"You sure you want that?" Angewomon and Kari asked as they flew next to him. Kari smiled and pointed downwards, where the core of the digital world was visible.

Joe looked down, into the abyss and at the core, which seemed to have a stain on it from a previous casualty. "Never mind!" He yelled.

"I thought you'd say that." Garudamon laughed as she came closer to the part of spiral tower that belonged to Piedmon. "Oh cheer up Joe." Gomamon yelled down towards his partner human…digimon… combination. "It could have been worse."

"How?" Joe asked.

"Garudamon could try to eat you after we land." He said. "Now that you mention it, MegaSeadramon sushi tastes rather nice with some rice." Garudamon joked.

"Eep." Joe's red skin turned nearly entirely white at the prospect of that.

"Garudamon, stop scaring Joe." Sora said as Garudamon landed and dropped Joe off rather gently actually. After all, she had had her fun messing with him.

* * *

"Hey Tai." TK walked up to the skeleton man after they had hit terra firma again. He rummaged around in his pockets and pulled something out. "I think this is yours."

He handed Tai a bone. Not just any bone, but a finger.

"Is this?" Tai started. TK nodded. "I forgot all about that thing…" He swirled the sharp claw around, his 'new' fingers weren't half as sharp as this thing.

Tai sighed and handed it back to TK. "Keep it." He said. "Think of it as a good luck charm."

"You sure?" TK asked. "Yeah, it's not like I'd have any use for it now." He showed TK his changed hands. "See? I've got all ten fingers already." Though he didn't really want to tell TK just how that happened. Scarring little kids for life wasn't something Tai was a big fan off.

* * *

"How touching." Piedmon said from his somewhat empty room in the castle at the top of Spiral Mountain. "The little digidestined are all back together again. Whoop-dee-doo!" He exclaimed.

"What do you think of this MetalSeadramon?" He asked the empty basin, where MetalSeadramon normally emerged. "Not much, that was too be expected." Piedmon muttered to himself. "Bubble brain." He said.

"Okay then, how about you Puppetmon?" No reply, seeing how Puppetmon wasn't even there.

"Oh right, I forgot." Piedmon slapped himself on the forehead. "Puppetmon went on a vacation!" He laughed maniacally. "He went on a one way trip to the core of the digital world!" He cackled.

"Then it's just you and me." He unsheathed one of his Trump Swords. "Ain't that right Machinedramon? Or should I say Machinedramon Chaos Mode, or how about Chaosdramon?" He said that last name mockingly. "So scary you know!" He threw the Trump Sword into the wall.

"Well then." Piedmon said once he calmed down a bit. He walked up to the wall which he had hit with his sword and pulled it back out. "Looks like it's actually just the four of us left." He said to two shadows standing next to his throne.

"Three of us." One figure corrected. "We refuse to accept that other one as one of our own."

"Well I agree, he is a bit… eccentric after all." Piedmon said, his smile growing wider. "But aren't we all!?!"

Three sets of laughter filled the entire room, echoing through the near empty castle.

* * *

"Did any of you hear that?" Kari asked, huddling a bit closer to her brother. They had quickly found a cave to rest for the night, seeing how they had a lot of catching up to do.

"We did." Joe said. "And I for one didn't like the sound of it." Izzy said, wringing his four hands in discomfort.

"We'll worry about it in the morning, okay." Matt said. "For now, we've all got some explaining to do."

And so did the digidestined talk, telling each other about what they had experienced when apart from each other.

Even though you couldn't see it Tai was smiling. Life was starting to look up a bit.

But now he was starting to wonder how long it would last.

* * *

So am I… I know I promised this chapter a week earlier in AaC but life got in the way. Was sick for two days and after that I had absolutely no chance at all to write, until Friday. It then took me till today to get everything right.

Reviews

PrincessJaded: yeah, my action packed chapters usually score better… and I think I'm getting the hang of fight scenes, as long as it's not too overcrowded in them. Unfortunately, this is one of those…  
Frostmourne pwns!

: Well, you'll see Matt's true reaction next chapter 'evil laugh' and the others are somewhat obvious.

SilverMau: I'll do my best!

GRX3m0m: fanfiction is like a box of chocolates. Nuff said. Machinedramon Chaos Mode rules! To bad I had to kill him off…

Depthmon: You did! Get out of my mind! I know it was a bit short, think this one's rather short too…

Escape my reality: yeah I know, only noticed that error later on. Only Mimi and Izzy are elevn according to my sources. Matt, Sora and Tai are twelve, nearly thirteen and Joe's thirteen, halfway fourteen. Or something like that. And glad you liked my story, and about the whole switching forms thing… nah, I prefer my transformations somewhat permanent. Though who knows what the future will bring!


End file.
